


5 Days on Arkanis

by All_The_Feels



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Bloodline setting/references, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Post-Canon, Sexual Tension, Smut, Space Las Vegas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-10 22:40:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7864021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_The_Feels/pseuds/All_The_Feels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>***This fic was inspired by the idea of a "Space Las Vegas" (which is rumored to be the setting for the scenes shot in Dubrovnik for Episode VIII) and the political setting of Claudia Gray's novel Bloodline.***</p><p>General Leia Organa has sent Rey on her first undercover mission--a political summit for First Order government leaders. What was expected to be an uneventful mission takes an unexpected turn when certain other members of the First Order show up.</p><p>OR</p><p>What happens when Rey and Kylo Ren spend five days together in Space Las Vegas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The prologue chapter is short--subsequent chapters are quite a bit longer. Consider this chapter a "teaser".
> 
> I've written a draft of the entire 12-chapter fic and am in the process of cleaning up/revising a few things. I'm planning to post updates twice a week.

The first thing that Rey was conscious of when she woke up was pain. She hurt...all over. Her head throbbed, her throat was raw, her stomach hurt, and she felt a painful soreness between her legs. Kriff, how many times had they actually done it last night? She rubbed her forehead, wishing that there was some way to just will her headache away, among other things.

Trying to focus her eyes, Rey zeroed in on the clock on the bedside table of her hotel room. The clock told her that it was 0400 standard hours. So, in theory, she had a few more hours to sleep--unless, of course, the Governor had been able to arrange for transport at an earlier hour. Wondering if there was any update from the Governor, she slapped the bedside table, feeling around for the personal datapad that she was she she had left there. After a few seconds of fumbling, her fingers touched something that she thought was the datapad and promptly accidentally knocked it onto the floor. She groaned, straining and stretching to retrieve the datapad. Upon its successful retrieval, Rey flipped on the device and checked her messages. 

Oh no…  She had about a dozen messages, most of which were either from General Organa or Governor Oriclup, who was both her contact and cover here on Arkanis. The timestamps of the messages showed a trend of increasing concern from both the General and the Governor, which wasn’t surprising given that Rey had potentially had her cover blown in enemy territory. Quickly, she fired off a message to each of them, letting both know that she was okay, that she had simply had a “late night” and apologized for not responding sooner, and that she would be ready to leave as soon as her transport was ready.

Careful to not disturb the man who was still sound asleep in the bed next to her, Rey quietly got out of the bed and picked up his discarded tunic from the floor and slipped it over her head to cover her still-naked body. She padded over to the ‘fresher, where she poured herself a glass of water. She took a sip and grimaced; her stomach felt like it was being twisted by a wrench, and she suddenly had doubts that she’d be able to successfully keep the water down without vomiting, even if rehydration was exactly what her body needed right now. 

Rey’s eyes traveled to her left hand, where a simple platinum band now adorned her ring finger. She was still in somewhat of a state of disbelief that THAT actually happened, thinking of how it was a completely spur-of-the-moment decision a few hours earlier. When this mission had started, never in a million years did she guess that she would end up  _ married _ by the end of it. As quietly as possible, she padded back to the bed and snuggled back up to her husband--her HUSBAND--it would take a while to get used to that.

Rey became aware that she’d been lost in her thoughts when she’d felt his breath, immediately followed by him wrapping his arms around her from behind. She could feel that he was already somewhat aroused at her back as he pulled her to his body.

He kissed her neck. “You’ve put clothes back on?” he murmured.

“The room is cold once you get out of the bed,” she turned around and smiled at him, visually taking in his toned body and wondering when she’d be able to see him again like this, given their circumstances. She put the fleeting thought out of her mind, reminding herself to just enjoy the moment.

“What were you doing out of bed? And how are you feeling, by the way?” he asked.

Rey laughed. “I just got up for a glass of water. And physically? I feel like bantha fodder.”

“If it’s any consolation, I feel the same way.” He kissed the top of her head.

A sharp knock at the hotel room door startled the lovers.

“Just ignore it. I’m sure it can wait” He playfully tugged at the hem of her tunic--really his tunic--lifting it up over her torso and tossing it onto the floor. His hand went immediately to her bare breast.

The knock came again, this time louder and followed by a muffled voice shouting, “Rey? Rey! Open the door!”

“Ugh,” Rey groaned. “That has to be the governor.” She playfully swatted his hand away from her breast. “I’ll be there in a minute!” she called out.

“I guess the transport must be ready. Fun time is over for now.” He sighed, pouting slightly.

The pounding at the door started again. “REY!”

Rey swung her legs over the side of the bed, and surveyed the floor, trying to figure out where her husband had tossed his tunic a moment ago.

With a jolt, she looked up as she heard a beeping sound at the door and then a click. Someone had a keycard and had just opened their hotel room door via the card reader. Rey scrambled to cover her naked body with the sheet as the door swung open, and the person who had been shouting on the outside of the door entered the room.

Rey looked over at the man in bed next to her, trying to read his reaction. He muttered two simple words:

“Oh shit.”


	2. Day 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey arrives in Arkanis City, posing as an aide to Governor Oriclup.

_ 5 days earlier... _

 

Never in her wildest dreams would Rey have imagined an undercover reconnaissance mission to be so boring. She shook her empty cup, hoping that by shaking it, the cup might magically have more caf left in it than she recalled. Instead, however, she was simply reminded that she had an empty cup. Glancing at the chrono on her wrist, she saw that it was only 1030 hours. Rey couldn’t believe that the opening speaker had already been going over the day’s agenda for an hour and a half. Did the speaker really need to spend so much time talking about the things that they were going to talk about? How in the world had General Organa made this sort of thing her life’s work for so long? Both Rey and the Governor sat in a large meeting room full of roughly 200 planetary leaders and their various assistants, who were all affiliated with the First Order. Unless there were other spies or double agents here, every single person in this room could probably considered her enemy. 

The whole situation was surreal, Rey thought as she surveyed her surroundings. She sat with Arlissa Oriclup, Governor of the planet Birren. The Governor had actually inherited her position from her late husband, a First Order sympathizer, several years ago. From what General Organa had told Rey, Arlissa was an old friend of hers back from the days when Leia was a senator, and Arlissa’s political views had privately always been more in line with Leia’s than with her own husband’s. In fact, the Governor had actually offered Leia the opportunity to allow one of her junior Resistance members to tag along at this particular function, posing as the Governor’s aide. Leia felt that this would be both a good introduction to politics for Rey and would also be a relatively low-risk mission, safety-wise. All Rey had to do was sit, take notes, and make some attempt at mingling during the evening social events.

Glancing over at the Governor, Rey felt like she was wearing a costume. Instead of her usual vest with pleated details and pants, she wore a business-like tunic over leggings. She had styled her hair differently as well, having swapped her usual three-bun style for two braids, which were pinned to the sides of her head. General Organa had even taken it upon herself to purchase some basic cosmetics for Rey and had taught her how to apply them to better look the part of a young government official. 

The Governor, on the other hand, seemed completely at ease in her professional clothing. Several years younger than General Organa, the Governor wore her slightly graying, long black hair pulled back into a tight bun. The makeup that she wore complimented her olive complexion, just as her tailored robes complimented her slender figure. Although she possessed a cheeky sense of humor, everything about the Governor projected a sense of professionalism on the surface. Rey wondered to herself if the Governor had ever had a day in her life where she felt awkward. In fact, even though they had arrived at the hotel quite late the previous night, Governor Oriclup appeared bright and alert with no signs of any lack of sleep, even without a cup of caf. On the other hand, Rey had been so bleary-eyed when they checked in that she barely remembered exchanging duplicate room keys (a precautionary measure recommended by General Organa) and shuffling to her room. She regretted that she had dozed through the ride down through the atmosphere where she would have been able to check out the lit up casinos--one of Arkanis City’s most well-known sights. Oh well, Rey figured, she’d likely be able to check them out another night. 

Focusing back on the need to shake her drowsiness, Rey twisted around in her chair, wondering if there was any way that she could make her way unnoticed to the giant caf dispensers at the back of the room. Not bloody likely, she thought. Unlike herself, Rey noted that her fellow summit attendees all seemed enraptured by the speaker. As she twisted back around, she noticed a man staring at her. Rey guessed that he was maybe about 10 years older than she was, had red hair, and frankly, was very handsome. His formal black dress uniform told her that he was an officer with the First Order. She hadn’t possibly already been discovered, had she? She didn’t recognize him from her brief stay on Starkiller Base. Not wanting to encourage his attention, Rey quickly looked away and stared straight ahead, focusing on the speaker at the front of the room.

Minutes later, with her attention wavering again, Rey glanced back in the direction of the red-haired man.

He was staring at her again. And again, Rey quickly looked away.

Nothing good could possibly come from catching the attention of a First Order officer, even if it was a fairly handsome one, Rey thought. What was he even doing here? This was supposed to be a political summit for the various leaders of First Order-allied planets. Preliminary reports to the Resistance had predicted that there would be minimal First Order presence here, which was why General Leia Organa had felt comfortable giving this assignment to Rey as her first intelligence mission. 

Governor Oriclup sat in the seat directly to Rey’s left and had been taking copious notes on her datapad through the summit’s opening speech. As far as Rey could tell, the Governor was completely oblivious to the attention that Rey seemed to be attracting. Rey toyed with the idea of sending the Governor an instant message from her own datapad, but she didn’t want to come across as naive or paranoid. What was she going to say? “Governor, that red-haired man in the First Order uniform keeps staring at me. Do you think I’ve been recognized?” No, talking to the Governor could wait at least until they had their first break.

Having calmed herself, Rey slowly turned her head in the direction of the red-haired man. He immediately sensed her attention and caught her gaze. This time, however, he smiled at her. It seemed to be a friendly smile, rather than a threatening smile, so Rey allowed herself to smile back, briefly, before turning away this time.

Finally, the opening speaker gave their closing words, and the summit attendees were given a 15-minute intermission until the next speaker. Rey got up and immediately darted to the giant caf dispensers that sat on tables in the back of the room. She filled her cup, replaced the lid, and when she wheeled around to head back to her seat, she nearly collided with the red-haired man who had been staring at her.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” Rey exclaimed, nearly spilling her caf.

The red-haired man grinned at her. “No worries. I’m guessing that you found Minister Cathon’s opening remarks about as interesting as I did?”

“Was it that obvious?” Rey grinned sheepishly. The man did have a certain...charisma about him.

“I assume that you were out a little too late enjoying the Arkanis City nightlife last night?”

“Oh no, our ship just got in late. I wasn’t able to even make it to my room until midnight.”

“Well, if you’re staying for the week, there will be plenty of time for you to partake in all of the activities that our city has to offer.” He extended his hand to Rey. “Hux. General Hux.”

With the way that he emphasized the word “General,” Rey could tell that he was rather proud of himself for having obtained such a lofty position at such a young age. On the other hand, it made Rey feel instantly wary to be casually chatting with someone of such a military high rank so early in the morning on her first day here.

“I’m Rey,” she extended her hand and shook Hux’s. General Organa had advised Rey against using an alias, given that it was unlikely anyone would know or recognize her here at the summit, and by using her own name, she was less likely to slip up while socializing with her fellow summit attendees.

“Nice to meet you, Rey,” Hux nodded his head and smiled.

“Nice to meet you, too, General Hux,” Rey returned the gesture.

“I see that you’ve been sitting with Governor Oriclup. I take it that you’re from Birren?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m her aide.”

“Aren’t you a little young to be an aide?”

“Aren’t you a little young to be a general?” Rey snarked back with a grin.

“Touché. I deserved that. And I didn’t mean anything by it other than, in my experience, most young women on Birren your age are busier with trying to catch a husband than concerning themselves with politics.” 

“I’m not like most women from Birren.”

“I can tell that,” Hux smirked. 

Rey glanced over at Governor Oriclup who was giving her a bemused smile. “I should probably be getting back to the Governor.” She took a step back towards her seat.

Hux caught her by the wrist. “Will you be attending the cocktail social this evening?”

Rey hadn’t really thought about it; she was a bit apprehensive about alcohol-fueled socializing with the First Order. On the other hand, one of the reasons why General Organa had assigned her to this particular mission was to  _ mingle _ .  The General held the belief that certain First Order leaders might be more likely to be loose-tongued around an attractive young female like Rey. Remembering General Organa’s words to her solidified Rey’s decision. “Yes, “I’ll be there.”

“I look forward to seeing you tonight, then.” Hux’s smirk turned into a warm smile.

“See you there,” Rey returned the smile and returned to her seat.

 

***

 

“Well, that was fast,” grinned Governor Oriclup.

“What was fast?” Rey asked.

“It appears that you’ve already caught the attention of General Hux.”

“What?” Rey gasped. “You don’t think I’ve already blown my cover, do you?”

The Governor chuckled. “No, that’s not what I meant.” She leaned in closer and spoke softly in Rey’s ear to avoid being overheard. “He has a reputation for being a bit of a ladies man. Just be careful around him.”

Rey blushed. “But he’s a  _ general _ , there’s no way…”

Governor Oriclup raised her eyebrows. “You’re the prettiest girl in this room. Use it to your advantage. Just be careful, and don’t forget who you’re supposed to be while you’re here.”

 

***

 

Accompanied by Governor Oriclup, Rey attended the cocktail social gathering that night wearing a short, simple black dress with a flared skirt. Immediately after putting on the dress, Rey had spun in front of her hotel room’s mirror, admiring the way that the skirt twirled. The Governor had assured her that her dress was in line with what most people would expect a young woman Rey’s age to be wearing at this type of event. Also at the Governor’s recommendation, Rey had taken out the braids in her hair and finger-combed through them so that her hair now hung in soft waves, reaching just below her shoulders. The Governor even had helped Rey re-apply the cosmetics to her face, using a heavier hand with the eye makeup than Rey had worn in the day, with the result being a smoky effect around each eye. Rey gawked at herself as she stared in the mirror--just a few months ago, she was a scavenger from the desert planet Jakku--she barely recognized the face staring back at her from her reflection.

The meeting area, which had hosted hours of droning speakers earlier in the day, had been made over into a makeshift social space. Elevated tables occupied one half of the room while a stage with a live band and a dance floor occupied the other half. Formally dressed waiters made the rounds of the room, carrying trays of appetizers and glasses of wine. The First Order appeared to have gone all-out for this social event. Eagerly, Rey accepted a plate containing two small savory pastries and a glass of wine.

Governor Oriclup placed her hand over Rey’s, holding her own glass of wine in her other hand. “Now, General Organa has told me that you’re very intelligent and very savvy, but that you have limited experience with social occasions like this.” She gestured with her wine glass. “Corellian wine is excellent, but make sure that you pace yourself tonight. I’d recommend having no more than two glasses tonight. And drink slowly.”

“Right,” Rey nodded. She’d had a few glasses of wine in recent months since leaving Jakku and joining the Resistance, but she had no confidence in her abilities to hold her alcohol while attempting to perform her intelligence duties. “No more than two glasses,” she re-stated.

The Governor gestured towards a bar at one end of the room. “If you’re having a good time, or have found someone where you’re...learning productive information, you can always go to the bar and request a soda water with ice and lime. You’ll be appear to be continuing to enjoy the social aspect without compromising your mental faculties.”

“Got it. Soda water with ice and lime,” Rey agreed. She took a sip of her wine; it was a white wine and tasted sweet but not too sweet. The faint hint of alcohol would help remind her what she was actually drinking so that she didn’t down her beverage too quickly.

Rey’s intention for this first night had been to simply sit and observe the interactions in the room. If someone approached the Governor, she’d make polite conversation, and if she happened to get up to visit the bar or order food, she’d certainly mingle with those around her. However, she intended to reserve most of her socializing for the other hosted events that would take place throughout the week; for now, she just wanted to get her bearings around these people before she engaged in much interaction.

As Rey’s luck would have it, her plan fell by the wayside within minutes after she had settled in at the table with Governor Oriclup. 

“Good evening, ladies!” 

Rey jumped as a now-familiar-looking red-haired man pulled up a bar stool next to Rey at the table that she shared with the Governor.

“General Hux,” the Governor stated warmly with a smile.

“Hi,” Rey said, blushing slightly.

“How are you both doing tonight?” In theory, Hux was speaking to both of them, but he looked directly at Rey as he asked the question. 

“We’re doing fine,” the Governor replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Can I get either of you anything? Another glass of wine perhaps?” Again, Hux’s question was addressed to Rey.

“No, I’m fine for now, but thank you for asking,” Rey gestured to her still nearly-full wine glass.

“I realize that there hasn’t been much chance for relaxation yet, but have you had a chance to explore our city at all?” Hux had now given up the pretense that he was having this conversation with anyone other than Rey.

“Not yet. I hope to be able to do so, though,” Rey shook her head. 

“I would love a chance to play tour guide for you. I grew up here, you know,” Hux smiled smugly. “I mean, not in Arkanis City itself, but I’ve certainly spent enough time here to adequately show you around.”

“That would be lovely.” That would be lovely? Rey couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth--she had to admit to herself that she was enjoying this whole charade a little more than she expected to tonight. She took a sip from her wine glass to hide her smile. 

“As efficient as the First Order is with planning, we did build some free time into this week’s schedule, so there should be some time for leisure while you’re here.”

“And what sort of leisure activities should I explore while I’m here?” This flirting thing was starting to get a bit easier.

Governor Oriclup snorted. Rey suspected that the Governor was stifling a laugh at this point.

“Being from Birren, I assume that you don’t partake in casino games…”

Rey shrugged. “I haven’t before, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not curious.”

Hux leaned in closer and lowered his voice. “Well, if you choose to do so while here, I won’t tell anyone. Besides, you know what they say--’What happens in Arkanis City stays in Arkanis City.’”

“I will keep that in mind.” Rey sipped her wine again.

Finally, Hux turned to the Governor. “Governor Oriclup, I promise to not corrupt your aide too badly.” He paused and grinned devilishly. “Unless, of course, that’s what she wants.”

“You’ll just have to wait and see about that, I guess,” Rey replied. She hadn’t had a lot of experience with members of the opposite sex and could sometimes be oblivious to their attention, but this man was making it impossible to be oblivious.

Hux slid down from the bar stool. “Ladies, I must temporarily take my leave of you while I welcome some of our other guests.” He bowed his head slightly.

“It was nice talking to you,” Rey stated. She sipped her wine again, suddenly aware that the glass was near-empty now.

Governor Oriclup simply nodded towards him.

The Governor waited until he was out of earshot. “I realize that this is your first mission for Leia, but please be careful. I know that it might be tempting to go along with General Hux’s flirtations, but take care to not wind up in over your head. Regardless of what information you think you might be able to get from him, remember that he’s held a high rank with the First Order for a long time.”

“I’ll be careful, I swear.”

The older woman leaned in towards Rey. “Keep in mind, that above all else, he wants to shag you. And that’s going to be his driving motivation for his behavior with you.”

“I don’t think…”

“Rey, I’ve been around long enough to know what makes certain types of men tick. I did have a life before I was married, and trust me, with the way that he was laying it on, General Hux would like nothing more than to get into your pants, so to speak.”

“I can handle myself.”

The Governor continued. “Now, I do recognize that he’s quite a handsome young man. So if you do choose to engage in...relations with him, make sure that it’s because it’s something that you want to do and not something that you feel obligated to do for your mission.”

Rey laughed. “I promise that I won’t engage in...relations with General Hux or anyone else here.”

“If you change your mind, just make sure that he wears a prophylactic.”

 

***

 

A second glass of wine and several partial cocktails later, Rey found herself on a sparsely populated dance floor with General Hux.  She hadn’t realized how tall he was, but he towered over her by nearly half a foot, and Rey wasn’t particularly petite in height. Rey wasn’t sure what was making her more self-conscious right now--her lack of dancing experience, the fact that roughly 100 pairs of eyes of various First Order leaders were on them, or the physical proximity to Hux himself. He held one of her hands in his; his other hand rested on her back as he led her around the dance floor.

Rey wasn’t sure how long she had been dancing with General Hux, but she could tell that the evening was starting to wane by watching the attendees gradually filtering out the room. Suddenly aware of how much she’d had to drink that night, Rey excused herself to visit the ‘fresher. The public ‘fresher was located outside of the banquet room and down a short hallway. After using the facilities, Rey paused and looked at herself in the mirror, half tempted to splash cold water on her face but opting not to ruin what was left of her makeup. Hux had made it very clear during their dance that he’d found her very attractive and that he would like to spend more time with her over the next week.

While Rey’s initial reaction to General Hux had been physical attraction, the more time that she spent with him, she was beginning to feel slightly irritated with him. Even though she protested, he kept bringing her drinks, which she subtly kept having to leave scattered around the banquet room to keep her intoxication level within reason. She was already more buzzed than she had intended to let herself get, but she was sure that she wasn’t quite yet to the point where her judgment would be impaired. Hux kept going on about wanting to “show her the view from his suite.” At least Rey was sober enough that she knew  _ that _ wouldn’t be allowing that to happen tonight.  If she was going to engage in  _ any _ sort of physical activity with Hux or anyone else here, Rey wanted to make sure that she did so with a clear head. She made the decision that as soon as she made it back to the banquet room, she’d let Hux know that she was turning in for the night, say goodnight to Governor Oriclup, and return to her hotel room.

Rey exited the ‘fresher walked on slightly wobbly legs towards the entrance to the banquet room. However, before she could re-enter the banquet room, a large leather-gloved hand firmly gripped her upper arm and pulled her backwards. 

What the-- ? Where had he come from?

A deep voice growled into her ear.

“Where do you think you’re going,  _ Rey _ ?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the planet Birren is the planet from Bloodline where Leia had been offered (and refused) the royal title. In my story, Leia was friends with the wife of the man who was eventually given the title, and when he passed away, his wife inherited his title/ruling status. This storyline was an excuse to get Rey into a First Order political function with a Resistance-sympathetic contact.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who commented and kudos'ed my teaser chapter. I love reading your comments and getting your feedback!


	3. Day 1 (Night)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo Ren intercepts Rey at the First Order summit, and things start to get interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When last we left Rey, Hux had gotten her a bit tipsy at the opening night social mixer sponsored by the First Order. (Un?)fortunately, on her way back from the 'fresher, she was grabbed by a mysterious deep-voiced man wearing black gloves. Who could it possibly be????

Rey didn’t have to see the man’s face to know that the voice belonged to Kylo Ren. The hallway was dark, and she couldn’t see very well, but she knew what she’d see if she could. She knew that he was tall and dark-haired with piercing brown eyes, and that she had previously fought him on Starkiller Base. The last time she had seen him, she had left him bleeding in the snow with a lightsaber wound to his face as the world split between them. This government summit was one of the last places that she would have expected to run into him. The fact that he was here and had seen her also meant that her cover was blown and that she needed get away from both Kylo Ren and Arkanis as quickly as possible. Hopefully she could avoid compromising Governor Oriclup in the process.

“Let go of me!” she demanded and unsuccessfully tried to wrench her arm from his grasp.

“Absolutely not.” Still gripping her arm, Kylo took a step backwards and looked her up and down, assessing her appearance. 

Defiantly, Rey stared back at him. “What are you even doing here? This was supposed to be a government summit, not a military operation.”

He sneered at her. “It’s a  _ First Order _ summit, scavenger. What sort of sloppy intelligence did your people receive to make you think that there  _ wouldn’t _ be a military presence here?” 

Kylo stepped back, giving Rey a better look at him. A scar now bisected his face, running across one cheek and down the center of his forehead. She held back a gasp, realizing the damage that her lightsaber had inflicted on him on Starkiller.

Rey scowled and tried to free herself again. “Let me go!” 

“Not a chance.” He pulled her closer to him, his eyes boring into her.

Rey knew that she had to get away from Kylo, preferably without making a scene. “I need to get back inside.” She gestured towards the banquet room. “There are people waiting for me in there.”

“Who?” Kylo snorted. “That ginger that you’ve been making an ass out of yourself with all night? General Hux?” He spat out the name and crouched down so that his face was level with hers.

“I told him that I’d be right back.”

He made a face. “How much have you had to drink tonight, Rey? Your breath smells like a distillery.”

Rey tried to regain her focus, aware that the night’s alcohol consumption was leaving her mentally feeling fuzzy. “I--, I-- I’m just doing my job. I’m supposed to be mingling.”

“Mingling, right. So that’s some code word for letting Hux getting you so hammered that he can get you out of that dress?”

“NO!” Rey blurted out. “I wouldn’t--”

“And what do you think he’d do if he got you back to his room and found that lightsaber hidden on you wherever you’ve got it?”

“I don’t have my…” Rey stopped, realizing her mistake in horror. Now he’d know that she didn’t have her weapon with her.

Kylo smiled, his eyes narrowing. “So, you’re here at a First Order social event, and you’re unarmed. Someone in the Resistance must not like you very much.” He studied her for a minute. “You know what? I’ve changed my mind. We  _ are _ going back in there.” He started to guide her towards the entrance to the banquet room.

“We are?”

“I want to watch Hux try to score with you for a bit longer. I could use a laugh. And also, I’d like to find out who your contact is here. You do have one, I assume?”

Rey didn’t answer.

“Good, so you do have a contact here, and your non-answer tells me that your contact is still inside that banquet room.” He began to drag her towards the entrance to the banquet room.

“No!” She began to panic. It was one thing if her own cover was blown, but it was another thing to put Governor in danger because of her own poor judgment. 

“Yes. Come on, let’s go.” He placed his hand on her back and gently prodded her forward. "And remember where you are before you even think about making a scene."  


As she walked the final steps to the entrance of the banquet room, Rey concentrated on her breathing and tried to calm herself. She couldn’t give away any idea that anything was wrong without endangering both the Governor and herself. 

Rey entered the room and blinked, her eyes needing a moment to adjust to the bright light after having spent the past few minutes in the dark hallway with Kylo. 

“Rey!” The Governor was talking to General Hux. She waved at Rey and motioned for her to join them. “I was wondering what happened to you.” 

“I see that you’ve met my colleague,” Hux nodded at Kylo.

“Yes. We bumped into each other outside,” Rey stated, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

“I haven’t yet had the pleasure.” The Governor extended her hand towards Kylo. “Arlissa Oriclup. I’m the governor of Birren.”

“Birren.” Kylo nodded, making eye contact with Rey. “I’m Kylo Ren. I perform a variety of Special Operations within the First Order.”

Rey snorted, unable to control her reaction to Kylo’s introduction. He turned and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

The group made idle small talk for a short while. Governor Oriclup yawned and addressed Rey. “Rey, it’s getting a bit late for me, and we’ve got another early start tomorrow. I think I’m going to turn in for the night.” She paused and Rey caught her looking over the two young men whose attention had been focused on Rey. “Did you want to come back with me? Of course, you do seem to be enjoying yourself here.”

Without skipping a beat or her chance to evade Kylo, Rey replied, “As much as I’m enjoying the company here,” she smiled sweetly at Hux and Kylo, “I’m afraid that I’m not used to these early mornings after late nights. I’ll head back with you, Governor.” Once she was back in her room, Rey hoped that she would be able to contact General Organa and hopefully initiate an extraction from this mission.

“Gentlemen,” the Governor nodded, “We will see you tomorrow.” She turned and took step towards the exit.

“It was nice meeting you,” Rey addressed Hux and Kylo. “This is certainly proving to be an educational experience for me.” She hopped down off of her barstool and followed the Governor out the door of the banquet room.

 

***

The two women waited in the hotel lobby for the turbolift. 

“I wasn’t expecting there to be anyone from the First Order here,” Rey whispered to the Governor, not wanting to reveal her history with Kylo until she’d talked to General Organa first.

The Governor shrugged. “I had been told that this was strictly a government summit, but I guess the military can’t keep their fingers out of things.”

“WAIT!” a male voice shouted at them. 

Rey turned to see Kylo Ren jogging towards them. Kriff.

“Let me escort you ladies to your rooms. I know that this is a nice hotel, but Arkanis City has...unsavory elements, even here.”

Rey tried to mask the panic that she felt. Kriff, kriff, kriff. Was he really going to follow them to their rooms?

“Thank you, that’s very nice of you,” the Governor replied as the trio entered the turbolift. She addressed Rey, “ _ This _ one appears to be a gentleman, at least.” 

Rey had to force herself to not roll her eyes at the Governor’s remark. “Gentleman” wasn’t exactly a word that she’d use to describe Kylo. Besides, he’d apparently manage to charm the Governor simply by not being Hux. Rey began to nervously finger the keycard to her room. She might need to make a dash for it once they were off the turbolift. If she could make it into her room, she could contact General Organa to get her out of this situation. She doubted that Kylo Ren would want to spend the night camped outside of her hotel room door.

A bell chimed, announcing the arrival of the turbolift at Rey’s and Governor Oriclup’s floor. 

“Well, this is our stop,” Rey announced with mock cheerfulness. “Thank you for the escort. I think we can make it the rest of the way on our own.”

Kylo followed the two women as they stepped out of the lift. “I just want to make sure that you both make it back to your rooms safely.”

“Kriff,” Rey cursed to herself inaudibly.

They walked halfway down the hall, stopping at the door to the Governor’s hotel room. “This is my stop,” said the Governor, sliding her keycard into the cardreader on the door. She opened the door.

“Governor? Would like to go over our notes for today?” Rey hoped that the Governor would get the hint and invite her into the room, getting her away from Kylo.

Governor Oriclup yawned. “I appreciate your diligence, but I’d really like to get some sleep. We can go over our notes tomorrow.”

“But--” Rey gripped the keycard tighter as her stomach flip-flopped.

“Goodnight, Rey.” She nodded towards Kylo. “And Kylo, it was nice meeting you. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Seconds later, the Governor disappeared into her hotel room and closed the door, leaving Rey standing alone with Kylo in the hallway.

Rey walked a few feet towards her room, which happened to be next door to the Governor’s room, and stopped. “Um, I’ll be fine the rest of the way. You can go now.”

Kylo stepped towards her, crowding her personal space. “We’re not finished.” He grabbed the keycard out of Rey’s hand and immediately locked his hand onto her upper arm again.

“Please let me go.” She pleaded with him. “I need to check in with my contact at the Resistance when I get back to my room. If they don’t hear from me, they’ll know that something is wrong.”

Ignoring her plea, Kylo read the room number on the card and dragged Rey to her door. With his free hand, he slid the card through the cardreader and pushed the door open. He yanked her to the doorway and with both hands, shoved her into the room. Rey stumbled and fell against the bed. Catching herself before she fell to the floor, she shifted to sit on the edge of the bed. By the time that she had turned around, Kylo had stepped into the room and shut the door behind him.

“What are you doing?” Rey blurted out.

“I haven’t decided yet,” Kylo answered. “I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do with you.” 

He looked around the hotel room until he saw the type of object that he was looking for--a sturdy armchair. Not wanting to risk creating a clear path between Rey and the door, he Force-pulled the armchair across the carpeted floor until it met his hand. Kylo pushed the chair back up against the door and sat down.

“What are you doing?!” Rey repeated with increased urgency in her voice. 

“You’re not leaving this room unless I decide that you can leave.” He stated matter-of-factly and sat down in the chair.

“So you’re just going to hold me prisoner again? I’ve told you--people will be looking for me if I don’t check in when I’m supposed to.”

“IF we are still here when you need to check in, you will be able to check in. Under my supervision, of course.”

Rey crossed her arms. “And where would we be going? Are you going to take me back to the First Order?”

“Most likely, yes. Unless you come to your senses.”

Rey flopped back on the bed. She  _ had _ to find a way to get out of this nightmare. She’d escaped being held as a First Order prisoner once before but she had no hopes that she’d be able to do so a second time, especially with Kylo Ren being aware of her Force Sensitivity. There was no way that she’d be locked in a room with a single Stormtrooper stationed guard if she wound up a captive again. Rey fought back tears at the unfairness of the situation; General Organa had specifically assigned this mission to Rey for her first solo mission precisely because it was supposed to be a safe, low-risk mission. Instead, she was likely to be carted off to the enemy where they’d torture her and do maker-knows-what with her before ultimately executing her. 

Rey grunted and punched the bed in frustration. She sat up to find Kylo watching her with a bemused look on his face.

“Of course, you would think this was funny,” she spat at him, feeling the rage well up inside of her. 

“It’s funny to me.”

An electronic chime rang out in the room. Rey bolted over to the desk where her holopad sat. 

“I need to take this, this is my check-in,” she explained.

“If you do or say anything to indicate your situation, I will have you on my shuttle and on your way to a star destroyer so fast that your head will spin,” he warned.

“Like you won’t do that anyways?”

“If you cooperate, I might be willing to negotiate.”

Rey rolled her eyes at him, then picked up the holopad and sat back down on the bed. “Hello?” She said, activating the holochat function.

“Oh good, you’re there, Rey. I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all evening” A hologram of General Organa appeared from the other end of the holochat.

Curious, Rey watched Kylo’s reaction to his mother’s voice and image. His expression would have indicated that he had just eaten something particularly sour if Rey hadn’t known otherwise.

“I’m here,” she stated, not taking her eyes off of Kylo. “There was a social mixer this evening. I made the mistake of attending that, but I’m back now.”

“So that’s why you’re wearing your hair down? It looks very nice,” General Organa complimented her.

From his seat in against the door, Kylo rolled his eyes.

“Thank you,” Rey replied and self-consciously ran a hand through her hair.

“Better not wear your hair like that around the base. I think it would be very distracting to some of your colleagues,” the General chided. 

“I doubt that.” Rey glanced over at Kylo who was grimacing in his chair.

“Anyway, how did the first day go? Uneventful?”

Rey continued to watch Kylo as she answered. “Mostly uneventful. They spent an hour and a half going over the agenda in the morning. I nearly fell asleep during the opening remarks.”

General Organa chuckled. “That sounds about as exciting as I expected it to be. I apologize if the summit is a bit boring--I wanted you to have something ‘easy’ as your first solo mission. I also thought that you would benefit by some exposure to government and familiarizing yourself with some of the players on that stage.”

“I know. I understand.”

“If you’re really not getting anything out of it, we can pull you out early. I just ask that you give it another day or two.”

“Thank you,” she looked up at the holopad and made eye contact with Kylo as she spoke. “I think that might be a good idea.” 

“Are you drunk?” The General’s tone suddenly changed.

Rey cleared her throat and blushed. “Maybe a little.” 

“I expected better from you, Rey. That’s the type of thing that I expect from Poe.” She shook her head. “At least I can assume that you didn’t bring anyone back to your room tonight, correct?”

Kylo snorted in the background. Rey glared at him then redirected her attention to the General’s hologram image.

“Of course not! And I apologize for my intoxication. There was a guy at the mixer who kept bringing me drinks, and I guess I lost a track of how much I had.”

“So someone was trying to get you drunk? Where was he from?”

“He’s from the First Order military operations. A young guy--General Hux.”

General Organa’s expression hardened. “There’s a military presence there? We weren’t expecting that.”

“Whatever intelligence we had, it was wrong.” Rey tried to not sound accusatory. “The First Order does have a few of their leaders here.”

“And you would tell me if my son was among them?”

Kylo visibly flinched in his chair.

“Of course, I would,” Rey lied.

The General paused for a moment. “Rey, try your best to avoid the First Order leaders. You don’t need to call any attention to yourself, and you’re not there to be a hero--this is just a training mission for you.”

“I know. I will do my best to stay off their radar.”

“Okay, I’m going to sign off. Get some sleep. And drink some water before you go to bed; it will make tomorrow morning less painful.”

“Yes.  Goodnight, General.”

“Goodnight, Rey.”

Rey closed her holopad.

“Well, she hasn’t changed one bit,” Kylo muttered as Rey got up from the bed. “Where are you going?” he asked, his eyes following her.

“To get some water. I’m allowed to do that, aren’t I?”

Kylo responded by making an exaggerated sweeping gesture with his arm, welcoming her to the ‘fresher.

Rey poured herself a glass of water, guzzled it, poured a second glass, and then walked back into the main room. 

She sat back down on the bed. “So now what?”

“You should get some sleep.”

“Good, so you’re going back to your room then?”

“No,” he stated flatly.

“Oh, so you’re just going to wait for me to fall asleep and then carry me off to your ship? So that I can be tortured or executed or whatever you plan to do with me?”

“I won’t be doing that tonight.”

“Lucky me.”

“Why don’t you just stop worrying about that for now, change into your nightclothes, and try to get some rest?”

“With you right here?!?”

“The ‘fresher is right there,” he gestured.

Rey sighed and gathered a pair of sleep pants and a tank top out of her travel bag and slipped into the ‘fresher, slamming the door. A couple of minutes later, she emerged in her nightclothes with the makeup washed from her face.

“Happy?” she asked sarcastically.

“Ecstatic.”

“You know, instead of dragging this out, I’d rather you just kill me now, if that’s what you’re planning.”

“I’m not going to kill you, so you can relax about that. That doesn’t mean that I’ve decided what I’m going to do with you yet, though,” he paused and then smiled. “And to be perfectly honest, I’ve enjoyed watching Hux make an ass out of himself with you.”

“I don’t understand what you want from me.” Rey’s words came out as a combination of a plea and a sigh. “Why are you keeping me here?”

Now it was Kylo’s turn to sigh. “You really don’t get it, do you? Even with that connection between us that I know that you felt, too.”

“Get what?”

“That we’re better as a team than as enemies.”

“I’m not joining you. I don’t want anything to do with the First Order.”

“Then you really don’t get it, do you?” Kylo muttered.

Rey shook her head in frustration, picked a holobook off the nightstand and sat down on the bed. This was going to be a long night. Ignoring Kylo, she flicked on the holobook and began reading.

“Turn that off, and Get. Some. Sleep.” Kylo sounded exasperated.

“I’m not going to sleep while you’re here. The last time that I fell asleep with you around, I woke up strapped to a table.”

With that remark, Kylo stood up and crossed the room. He climbed onto the bed with one knee, hovering over Rey and causing her to lean back. He placed one hand on her shoulder to hold her in place.  “I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice.”

Kylo waved a hand in front of Rey’s face, causing her world to turn to darkness as she fell into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Thank you all so much for your kudo and comments on this fic so far! The response has been AMAZING, and we haven't even gotten to the smutty bits yet! Keep the comments coming--they're hugely encouraging.
> 
> A little poll question...I'm going to get started on my next Reylo fic and am playing around with two different ideas (both are loosely plotted out in my head). 
> 
> The first idea takes the various "leaks" for VIII from semi-reliable sources and builds a plot around those and my own theories. (Just the Ahch-To plot, though--I can barely speculate what the Finn/Poe plot might be up to.)
> 
> The second idea has all of your favorite Reylo characters but spins off on in an original direction that very likely won't have anything to do with VIII. Hint: Let's just say that it was no coincidence that King Prana sent Han Solo chasing after rathtars.
> 
> Which of these fics would your rather read?


	4. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 2 of the First Order summit...and Rey's first day of being "escorted" by Kylo to that day's summit events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, Rey found herself in the uncomfortable situation of running into Kylo Ren at the First Order summit where she was sent on an undercover mission. The evening ended with Kylo dragging Rey back to her hotel room and barricading the door to prevent her escape. After several exchanges of bickering, a frustrated Kylo eventually used the Force to put Rey to sleep.
> 
> Short chapter this time...things will get a bit heated again in the next chapter. ;)

Rey had no idea how long she had been asleep, but she knew that it must have been quite a while since she could see sunlight streaming through her hotel room window. Her head throbbed lightly--a result of drinking too much alcohol and not enough water the previous evening. She checked the holocron on the night table and saw that she had a little under an hour before she was expected to meet up with Governor Oriclup for the start of a second day’s worth of lectures and panel discussions. She’d almost rather be stuck in a room with Kylo Ren than to have to listen to eight hours of First Order leadership drone on about itself for that amount of time.

Speaking of Kylo Ren, he was still asleep, sprawled out in the armchair that he had used to block her exit from the hotel room. His mouth hung open slightly, and his head was tilted back, resting on the top of the chair. Apparently, he did actually fall asleep at some point last night, instead of him staying up watching her sleep the entire time. She was amazed that he’d stayed true to his word and spent the night in the chair, rather than carting her back to his ship or doing Force knows what else with her. So, at least there was that, Rey thought. She couldn’t possibly start to trust him, could she?

She watched him sleep for a few minutes, amazed at how peaceful he looked. His face expressed none of the tension or the rage that that Rey had become accustomed to. As his arms hung over the sides of the chair, his hands were relaxed and not clenched. In the soft morning light, the scar that divided his face was barely visible. From a purely physical standpoint, she had the fleeting thought that under different circumstances, she wouldn’t mind waking up next to a man who looked like that--if he could be given a personality transplant. Given her current circumstances, however, Rey quickly chased away the thought.

Suddenly, Kylo’s eyes flew open and focused on Rey.

“Were you watching me sleep?” he asked.

“No,” she lied.

He sighed and changed the subject. “What time is it?”

“Just after 0700 hours.”

“If you’re planning to take a shower this morning, I suggest that you do so now. We need to head back to my room so that I can clean up. I imagine that I smell like a bantha at this point.”

“Sure,” Rey nodded, sliding out of the bed and shuffling over to her travel bag. Feeling annoyed that she’d have to change in the ‘fresher in her own hotel room, she rifled through her clean clothing and selected an outfit and underclothes for the day. 

Her shower was quick, and she emerged fully dressed from the ‘fresher with her hair combed through but still wet and hanging loose. While she was showering, Kylo had moved the armchair back to its original position and was now sitting on the bed, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Are you going to leave your hair like that?” He asked.

Rey shrugged. “If I put it up right now while it’s still wet, it’ll never dry.”

“Leave it down like that. Hux will like it.” he smirked.

“Whatever,” Rey rolled her eyes. Although he was still being an ass, Kylo was being slightly less of one this morning than he was last night. In that moment, Rey made the decision to be less defiant with Kylo. If she wasn’t egging him on, perhaps he’d be more open to negotiation, or even better, let his guard down enough that she’d be able to slip away and contact the Resistance for help.

 

***

 

“What’s the deal with you and Hux? Aren’t you both on the same side?” Rey asked as she and Kylo rode the turbolift up to the floor where his room was located.

“Only in that we’re both working for the First Order. Regardless of what you think of me, Hux is the real monster.” He paused, watching for her reaction and then added,  “I suppose that I should also tell you that the man that you were flirting with for most of last night was the one who ordered the destruction of the Hosnian system.”

Rey couldn’t conceal her shock. “Him? You’re joking, right? He’s a little full of himself, but he seems mostly harmless.”

Kylo shook his head as he ran his room keycard through the card reader. “Harmless is the last word that I would use to describe him. He’s only trying to be charming towards you because he wants to shag you. Few things would pump up his ego more than managing to bed a good little girl from Birren.” He spoke the last part of the sentence with a snide tone.

Kylo placed his hand on her back and guided her into his room. 

“I need to take a shower, but I also need to know that you’re not trying to escape. I’d rather not have to hold you in a Force freeze while I’m trying to shower, so I am going to ask that you sit on the bed and sing or tell me a story or something so that I can hear that you’re still there.”

“And what if I don’t? Are you going to come careening out of the shower naked to tackle me or something?”

He studied her and smirked. “Would you truly mind if I did that?” 

Rey blushed and looked away quickly. Maybe under other circumstances, in another lifetime, he’d be right, but not here or now while he’s holding her prisoner. “I’ll tell a story. Or sing. Or something.” She walked over to the bed and sat down while Kylo disappeared into the ‘fresher leaving the door partly open. 

She heard him turn on the water, letting it run for a minute to warm up. Watching the opening in the door, she saw him toss his tunic and pants onto the bathroom counter, and was fairly sure that she got a glimpse of his bare (and toned) ass as he stepped into the shower. Rey quickly turned her head, if only to convince herself that she hadn’t just checked out the body of her captor.

“I don’t hear you,” he called out from the shower.

“I don’t know what to talk about,” she called back.

“Talk about anything. Tell me a funny story.”

Rey perked up. “Well, there was this one time back on the base where Finn had this big crush on--”

“Finn? Is that the traitor?”

“He is the former Stormtrooper who was called ‘FN-2187.’”

“Tell me a story that doesn’t involve the traitor.”

Rey thought for a moment and started to tell the story of how she assembled the flight simulator that she’d built for herself on Jakku. It was likely a boring story, but she didn’t exactly care about entertaining him. She told of how she’d scavenged the parts and from holomanuals that she’d bartered for, figured how to assemble them into a working computer. Once she had the computer working, she’d scavenged dozens of data cards from downed ships; she was even confident that she could fly an older model Star Destroyer, if the need ever arose.

“I heard that you actually flew the Falcon  _ through _ the wreck of the Inflictor when you were escaping Jakku. Is that correct?” Kylo called from the shower.  


“I did.”

Rey heard the water turn off, and a minute later, Kylo emerged from the ‘fresher naked from the waist up with a towel wrapped around his waist. She held back a gasp as she looked over his trim but muscular torso, her eyes drawn for a split second to the trail of dark hair that started at his navel and disappeared the towel. Perhaps not surprisingly, his torso was covered in scars--two of which she recognized from Chewie’s bowcaster shot and from Rey’s lightsaber blow that also scarred his face. But in addition to these scars, Rey also saw a roadmap of previous injuries and other assorted scars that covered his chest and back. She looked away quickly, just as Kylo seemed to sense her gaze. He turned around and pulled a pair of undershorts out of his travel case, which he slid on under the towel that he still wore, but not before Rey caught the hint of a mischievous grin on his face.

Nonchalantly dropping the towel, Kylo slipped into a clean pair of black pants, a black tunic, and fastened a black leather belt around his waist. He spent a minute running a comb through his still-wet hair. Rey marveled at the fact that this seemed to be the only step in his hair routine and was slightly jealous that his hair always seemed to look so good with such minimal effort.

“Ready?” He asked. “We still probably have time to grab something to eat before the next round of lectures start. I don’t want to have to listen to your stomach grumbling all morning if I can avoid it.”

“You’re sitting with us, too?” Rey asked in an exasperated tone. 

“You weren’t expecting me to let you sit alone with Governor Oriclup, were you?” He walked towards the door and opened it.

“No, of course not. No chance of being that lucky,” she sighed as she followed him out the door.

 

***

 

Having Kylo glued to her side all day was more annoying than Rey could have imagined. She was completely blocked from having any sort of meaningful conversation with Governor Oriclup, and the feeling of being watched at all times made Rey extremely irritable. Kylo even followed her to the ‘fresher during break, waiting just outside while Rey relieved herself. Her only reprieve came during the mid-morning break when Kylo briefly left to grab caf refills for Rey, the Governor, and himself.

“So you went for the dark-haired one?” Governor Oriclup chided with a devilish smile.

“Trust me, it’s not what it looks like,” Rey replied, shaking her head.

“Sure, it’s not,” the Governor grinned. “Everyone has flings at these things. Or at least all of the single people do...and even some of the married ones do, too. I’m too old for any of that, but if I was younger…”

“There’s nothing going on. Really.”

“That’s too bad then. He certainly is dreamy. And attentive. You might as well have a little fun on the side while you’re having to spend so much time listening to these old windbags drone on.” The Governor gestured towards the podium.

“He is handsome. I will give you that.”

“So what’s the hesitation? Do you have a boyfriend back home?”

Rey shook her head. “No, definitely not.”

At that moment, Kylo rejoined the two women and handed out hot cups of caf to everyone.

“Thank you,” the Governor took the cup of caf from Kylo. “That was very nice of you. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a gentleman bring me caf.” 

“It’s no trouble,” Kylo replied.

“Rey is such a nice girl. She certain deserves a nice man bringing her caf.”

Rey choked and nearly spat out her caf. She really didn’t need this right now.

The Governor’s remark not lost on him, Kylo smiled and made eye contact with Rey. “She certainly does.”

Rey ignored the comment and stared straight ahead, sipping her caf.

  
Thankfully, the rest of the summit for that day passed uneventfully, albeit a bit tediously, as Rey had to sit and listen to lectures on trade and economic theory for what felt like hours on end. Of course, Kylo had to throw a wrench into things by inviting both Rey and the Governor to dinner as the summit was breaking up for the day. The Governor graciously declined, citing that she had work that she needed to do that evening; however, Rey suspected that the Governor’s real reason for declining had more to do with her unwelcome attempts to play matchmaker between Rey and Kylo. Resigned, she allowed Kylo to drag her by the wrist to the hotel restaurant of his choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, the response to this fic has been absolutely amazing!!! Thank you everyone so much for reading and commenting!
> 
> ***
> 
> As I mentioned last chapter, I'm about to get started on my next Reylo fic and am playing around with two different ideas (both are loosely plotted out in my head):
> 
> * The first idea takes the various "leaks" for VIII from semi-reliable sources and builds a plot around those and my own theories. (Just the Ahch-To plot, though--I can barely speculate what the Finn/Poe plot might be up to.)
> 
> * The second idea has all of your favorite Reylo characters but spins off on in an original direction that very likely won't have anything to do with VIII. Hint: Let's just say that it was no coincidence that King Prana sent Han Solo chasing after rathtars.
> 
> Which of these fics would your rather read first? My take on Episode VIII or a crazy King Prana fic? (As of right now, the two options were exactly tied in last chapter's comments.)


	5. Day 2 (Night)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Rey and Kylo spend another night sequestered in Rey's hotel room, emotional barriers start to fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When we last left Rey and Kylo, Kylo was still refusing to let Rey out of his sight under any circumstances, and the conference day ended with Rey dreading her dinner "date" with him. Also, Governor Oriclup ships Reylo.

Rey stared off into the distance at the disbelief of her bad luck. She’d found herself sitting in a fancy restaurant with an intelligent and handsome man, who under other circumstances, would have made her heart race, and she wanted nothing more than to get as far away from here as possible. Ironically, this was the closest she’d ever come to having been on an actual date. With a table that overlooked the floor of the hotel casino, Rey watched the gamblers in an attempt to avoid conversation with her dinner companion/captor. 

“Do you not like the Jandarra?” Kylo asked as he watched her move vegetable pieces around on her plate with her fork. “I’d ask if you weren’t hungry, but I know that’s not the case.”

“No, it’s actually very good. I’ve never had anything like this before,” she looked up at him. “But you’re watching me eat, and it’s making me uncomfortable.”

“I’m sitting across the table from you. Where else should I be looking?”

“I don’t know.” She set her silverware down. “Does the fact that we’re eating dinner here right now mean that you’re not dragging me back to the First Order tonight?”

“Not tonight.” Kylo took a long, slow drink of wine. “Drink your wine. This stuff is far better than the swill you were drinking at the social hour last night.”

Rey took a measured sip. “You’re right. It is good.” She cut off a piece of her groat chop and popped it into her mouth. “This is delicious,” she stated with her mouth full. 

“There was a reason why I recommended this. I can’t imagine that you’ve had these sorts of delicacies back on Jakku...or in a Resistance cantina.”

“So this  _ is _ some sort of a last meal, isn’t it?” Rey asked, still chewing, but with a pit quickly forming in her stomach.

“I told you that it wasn’t. That hasn’t changed in the last thirty seconds.”

Rey swallowed and sipped her wine. “When are you going to tell me what you’re planning to do with me?”

“I told you. I haven’t decided yet. And it’s really more for you to decide than me.”

“I’ve decided that I’d like to be released. And if you do that, I’ll leave here immediately. Mission aborted. No one has to ever know that I was here.”

“You’re adorable.” He chuckled, “You know that’s not what I meant.” 

“I don’t understand what you want from me. Do you want the map? I’ll give you the map.” Rey leaned forward and motioned to her head, as if to give Kylo better access to her thoughts.

“I assume that means that Skywalker is no longer at the first Jedi Temple then?”

“No. He left with me.”

“So he’s back with the Resistance?” Kylo rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced.

“I’m not answering that,” Rey felt her confidence coming back and met Kylo’s gaze with defiance while drinking from her wine glass.

“We’ll see.”

Rey ignored his response and went back to her dinner with new determination that she was at least going to enjoy the food portion of this meal. She had eaten a few bites when she felt Kylo’s gaze return to her.

“You’re watching me eat again.”

Kylo shrugged. “So what if I am?”

“You’re infuriating.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Is this a game to you? Are you ever going to tell me whatever it is that you’re expecting me to do so that you’ll let me leave?” As her frustration increased, Rey raised her voice.

Kylo leaned forward and stated sternly, “We are not having this conversation here. Enjoy your dinner, and we will discuss everything once we get back to the room. Please don’t make a scene here and force my hand.”

Rey speared the last piece of Jandarra with her fork. “I bet you ate like this every day growing up, didn’t you?”

“No, we actually lived fairly modestly. Although I can imagine that what was ‘modest’ to me would feel like ‘luxury’ compared to what you had.” His voice softened. 

“I survived,” Rey looked up and held his gaze.

It was Kylo’s turn to look away uncomfortably before changing the subject. When he looked back at Rey, he asked, “Would you like to order dessert?”

“It’s on the First Order’s tab, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then yes, I’d like to order dessert. What would you recommend?”

 

***

 

An hour later, Rey and Kylo were back in Rey’s room, having made a short detour to Kylo’s room to pick up his nightclothes and a clean change of clothes for the next morning.

“Why aren’t we staying in your room?” Rey asked as she sat on the bed.

“Because if, for some reason, you’re caught in my room the negative ramifications would be greater than if I’m caught in your room.” Kylo sat down on the bed next to her.

“Oh really? I think that General Hux would be very interested in finding out that you’ve been spending the night in my room.”

“Hux is a vindictive sycophant. If he thinks that there’s something going on between us--that he ‘lost’ you to me, he’ll investigate. And trust me, you don’t want that happening.”

Rey snorted. “He’s really that bad?”

“Let me ask you this.” Kylo leaned closer to her. “Would you prefer to have Governor Oriclup knock on the door while I’m in here, or General Hux to knock on my door if you were in my room? Which one is more likely to get you into more trouble?”

“Point taken.” Rey took off her shoes and tossed them to the floor next to her travel bag, then scooted back on the bed so that her back rested against one of the pillows. “So now what?” she asked. “Do you want to watch a holovid or something, or do we just sit here making awkward conversation?”

To Rey’s annoyance, Kylo slipped off his boots and scooted up next to her on the bed without saying a word. He crossed his arms and smirked at her.

“What are you doing?” Rey tried to hold back the panic in her voice at Kylo appearing to settle in next to her. “Aren’t you going to Force pull over a chair to block the door and then stare at me while I sleep all night?” she asked.

“If I recall,  _ you _ were the one watching  _ me _ sleep when I woke up this morning.”

Rey scowled. 

Kylo continued. “Sleeping in that chair messed up my neck and back. I am going to try to avoid doing that again.”

Rey recoiled in horror. “You are NOT sleeping in this bed.”

“I might.”

“Then  _ I’m _ sleeping in the chair.”

“No, you’re not. You might sneak out while I’m sleeping. At least, if we're in the same bed, I'll be able to tell if you try to get up.”

“I am not sleeping in this bed with you.” Rey turned her body away from him.

“Get over yourself.” Kylo placed his hand on her shoulder, turning her upper body back to face him. “Rey, you’re very pretty, but I’m not going to do anything to you while you’re sleeping.” He dropped his hand and leaned back against the headboard, placing his hands behind his head. A sly smile crossed his face as he added, “Except maybe watch you sleep.”

Ignoring his last comment, Rey leaned back against the pillows again and crossed her arms, thinking. If she could help his back feel better, could she get him to move back to the chair at least? “Okay, let me see if I can help your back,” she offered. “Can you slide around and move so that your back is to me?”

“Sure.” Kylo did as he was told. 

With a firm grip, Rey began to massage his shoulders over his tunic. A small moan escaped from Kylo.

“I can’t believe I’m about to ask this, but can you take off your tunic? I’ll be able to dig in there a bit deeper if I’m not trying to work through layers of fabric,” Rey instructed.

Kylo twisted around, smirked at Rey, and removed his tunic.

“Um, and if you lay down on your stomach, I’ll be able to leverage my body weight, too,” she added.

Complying, Kylo laid down on his stomach with his arms resting overhead. Rey moved to kneel alongside him, using her fingers to dig into the sore muscle tissue of Kylo’s neck and shoulders.

“You really  _ are _ tight up here,” she commented.

“See? I told you.”

She silently kneaded away at his tension for several minutes. At one point, she needed to utilize her thumb to work out a particularly stubborn knot at the juncture where his neck met his shoulder. Kylo winced as she moved the knot around, loosening it. Finally, Rey felt a small “pop” and the surrounding muscle area relaxed a bit. She gave his shoulders a few more hard squeezes and withdrew her hands.

“Better now?” she asked.

“Mmmm-hmmm,” he murmured. “But I told you that my back was messed up, too--not just my neck.”

Rey sighed and climbed on top of him, her knees straddling his hips. She leaned forward and began massaging his back. Using firm strokes with the heels of her hands, she worked to ease his tension. Without realizing that she was doing so, she found herself lightly tracing over the scars that so numerously marked his back.

“What are all of these from?” She blurted out.

“I’d rather not talk about it right now,” he replied half into the pillow, his voice beginning to sound drowsy.

Rey returned to massaging his back, focusing on a particularly large knot under his right shoulder blade. 

“Does this hurt?” she asked, pressing her thumb into the knot.

Kylo yelped. “Yes!”

She fanned both hands out onto the flesh surrounding the knot. “This single knot is causing all of the tightness and pain that you’re feeling on this side. It might hurt a bit, but I need to work this one out.” Rey dug in with her thumb, and Kylo yelped again. She tried loosening the knot with a circular motion, but she only succeeded in moving the knot around. Frustrated at her lack of progress, Rey leaned over and used her elbow to dig in. 

Beneath her, Kylo bucked in pain at the sensation. “What are you doing?” he snapped.

“Using my elbow,” she explained.

Kylo grumbled something under his breath.

“Do you want this knot out or not?” She dug in with her elbow again, moving it in circles. 

The knot was incredibly stubborn. To make any progress, she found herself alternating between digging in her elbow and rubbing with the flat part of her hand. Twice, she’d thought that she’d gotten the knot only to have it spring right back into place.

Feeling exasperated, she sighed and sat back down--right onto Kylo’s rear. She clenched and unclenched her hands, trying to work out the cramps that were building up in them.

“You can stop now. If it’s not going to come out, it’s not going to come out.”

“No, that knot is coming out.” At this point, Rey couldn’t tell if her main motivation was stemming from fixing Kylo’s back or beating the knot itself.

Kylo chucked. “Seriously, it already feels a lot better.” He rotated his arm as best as he could from his position on the bed.

“I think I’ve almost got it.” Rey began rubbing with the palm of her hand again. “I do think it’s loosening.” She rubbed for a few seconds then went back to work with her elbow. This time, she felt a distinct snapping sensation under Kylo’s skin. Immediately, she went back to using her hand to massage the tender area to ensure that the knot wouldn’t reform itself.

Kylo moaned in relief into his pillow. Rey climbed off of him, and moved so that her back rested up against the pillow and headboard again.

“Better?”

“Much,” Kylo murmured, rolling over onto his back. His tone became more serious. “Why are you here?”

“Because you’re holding me prisoner?”

“Ha. Ha. No, I mean why are you at this leadership summit thing pretending to be a spy?”

Rey shrugged. “General Organa thought that it would be a good learning experience for me.”

“Why aren’t you training with my uncle? I was sure that that’s what you’d be doing after you found him. You did find him, didn’t you?”

“I found him,” Rey stated, trying to sound as unemotional as possible.

“Where is he now?” Kylo sat up.

“I’m not telling you that.”

Kylo stared at her for a moment with an expression that Rey couldn’t read. He then shifted his body so that he was sitting facing her. “Turn around,” he instructed.

“What? Why? Are you going to try to pull Luke’s location out of my mind?”

“No,” he sighed. “I was just planning to return the favor of what you just did for me by working on your own shoulders. Unless you don’t want me to.”

“Oh. Um, okay.” Hesitantly, Rey started to scoot towards Kylo and then stopped. “Um, let me change out of my work clothes first.” She hopped off the bed and grabbed the sleep pants and camisole that she intended to sleep in and brought them to the ‘fresher to change.

A few minutes later, Rey emerged from the ‘fresher in a tank top and sleep pants with her hair freshly brushed out. She sat down on the bed with her back to Kylo.

“Lay down,” he directed.

Rey laid down on the bed on her stomach, much in the same way that Kylo had earlier. She felt him shift his position on the bed and soon felt his large, strong hands massaging her shoulders. She nearly gasped in disbelief at how pleasant it felt to be touched by him in this way. Blissfully, she could feel the stress of the past few days--stress that he had caused--slowly dissipate, and she slowly began to relax.

He worked in silence for several minutes before he spoke again. “My uncle didn’t want to teach you, did he? That’s why you’re here right now.”

“You’re incredibly perceptive,” she muttered, her face half-buried in the pillow. 

“Did he have a good reason?”

“Do you mean the ‘reason’ massaging my shoulders right now?”

Kylo snorted. “Luke has no ground to stand on, as far as the anger that he feels towards me. He never even tried to find out my side of the story.” He paused “Doesn’t it make you angry? That you have this gift, and that he refused to teach you for reasons that have nothing to do with you?”

Rey felt herself starting to tense. “Can we not do this right now?”

She heard him chuckle from above her as he continued to knead her back. “Fine. I won’t ask you about my uncle while you’re in this somewhat...compromised position.”

“Thank you.” 

Still not content to leave things as they were, Kylo murmured “I wish that you would have come with me when I offered to teach you. Things would be a lot different now.”

“If you had asked under different circumstances, maybe I would have considered it.” Rey turned her neck to try to see Kylo’s face. “I’ve thought about things a lot over the past six months.”

“Is that so?” Kylo replied, with more of a statement than a question.

“I wondered how things would be if you’d come back with Han--back with us.”

Kylo’s hands stopped working. “Nothing can change what happened or what I did.”

“Would you do things differently, if you had the chance again?”

“Yes,” he stated bluntly. Slowly, his hands began to work on Rey’s back again.

“I’m sorry,” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. 

Kylo continued to massage Rey’s back without either of them saying anything for several minutes before finally mumbling, “It’s all in the past now.” 

Something compelled Rey to try to comfort Kylo. She reached back and rubbed the top of his hand. He placed his other hand on top of hers, and they stayed that way for several minutes. Eventually, they each pulled their hands away. Kylo returned to lightly rubbing her back.

As she allowed herself to further relax, Rey sighed, “Mmmmm..this is nice. It’s almost like we’re not enemies right now, at this moment.” 

“It is nice, isn’t it?” Kylo murmured, as he rubbed his thumbs along the inside of Rey’s scapulas.

Rey involuntarily moaned in response and then instantly felt embarrassed; she hadn’t realized how tight the area between her shoulder blades had been. She should be fighting her reaction to his touch, she told herself, but then she rationalized her feelings by reminding herself that she couldn’t remember the last time she’d physically felt this good. 

This--whatever “this” was, was a clearly one-time thing--a truce for the night. Rey could come up with no reason not to enjoy their temporarily unspoken agreement. Surely, they’d be enemies when they woke up again in the morning. With that thought in mind, Rey allowed herself to drift off to sleep on her own, with no Force tricks from Kylo Ren tonight.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all again for the amazing response to this fic! Your comments and kudos continue to be huge sources of inspiration.
> 
> And a thank you to wookiepedia for providing examples of "Star Wars food" like groat chops and Jandarra!


	6. Day 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When we last left Rey and Kylo, they had just exchanged massages. (Rey swears she was just trying to help his back feel better so that he'd sleep in the chair!) Anyway, Rey fell asleep before she could kick him out of bed.
> 
> This chapter begins with the next morning. If you're wondering where Kylo slept, here's your answer...

With sunlight streaming into her hotel room, Rey awoke to find herself laying on her side and looking directly into the eyes of Kylo Ren, who was lying beside her. With his face inches away from hers, he had been watching her sleep. Again. Rey’s next realization was that Kylo’s hand was on her waist, while her hand rested on his shoulder, and that her top leg was tangled up between Kylo’s legs. A sheet was pulled up over the lower halves of their bodies. Biting her lip, Rey mentally tried to process the intimacy of their positioning. Had something happened between them last night that she wasn’t remembering? No, she thought, as she ran through the previous night’s events in her mind. They’d given each other massages, and she had fallen asleep at some point while Kylo had been rubbing her back. That had been it.

Still not having said a word, Rey shifted slightly, running her hand down from Kylo’s shoulder to his upper arm--his bare upper arm. Apparently, he hadn’t bothered putting his shirt back on after she fell asleep last night. She bent her knee and felt that her leg was resting between two hairy legs. His pants had come off at some point last night, too? Oh no. Was he completely naked under the covers? Why would he do that? Rey quickly assessed her own situation and deduced that she was still wearing the same camisole and sleep pants that she’d fallen asleep in, so he hadn’t crossed that line, at least.

Rey made the impulsive decision to determine if Kylo was actually wearing  _ any _ clothing on his lower half. She knew that she needed to be subtle. Slowly, she guided her hand that had been resting on his arm wander down his body, lightly grazing his torso, until she had her hand at his waist. Fabric! She breathed a sigh of relief--he was wearing undershorts, at least.

As he watched her, Kylo tenderly brushed a lock of hair from Rey’s cheek. Slightly thrown off by the gesture, Rey studied his face, which wore a soft smile. If she hadn’t known better, Rey would have guessed that he was looking at her affectionately. His eyes looked soulful, as usual. Without realizing it, she glanced at his lips--those full lips of his that would have seemed downright kissable, had they not been attached to an enemy. She closed her eyes, imagining how kissing him would feel, if their circumstances were different. 

Kylo finally spoke first. He simply whispered, “Rey…” 

In the next moment, Rey felt something soft quickly brush against her mind, and before she had a chance to react, Kylo had leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. Caught completely off-guard and not confident that she  _ didn’t _ want to return his kiss, she simply laid there, parting her lips to let his tongue enter her mouth, but not reciprocating.

After a few seconds, Kylo broke the kiss. “What’s wrong?” he asked with a frown.

“I--  I--  Kylo, what are you doing?” she whispered.

He pulled back. “You wanted me to kiss you, didn’t you? You were thinking about it just a moment ago…” Kylo made no attempt to hide his confusion.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? Then what were you trying to do last night? Asking me to take off my shirt and then giving me a massage? And then you kept staring at my lips this morning and practically grabbed my ass just a second ago?” Kylo’s voice rose in frustration. He rolled over onto his back.

“I don’t know!” Rey stated defensively. “I guess I was staring at your lips. But last night, I was simply trying to fix your back so that you would sleep in the chair again.”

“Was it really that bad to sleep in the same bed with me? You seemed like you slept okay,” he spat.

“No! I mean, it was fine. But I didn’t know that last night.”

“And you think  _ I’m _ a mess,” he muttered.

“I’m confused. You’re confusing,” Rey stammered.

Kylo laughed bitterly. “ _ I’m  _ confusing? At least my intentions have always been clear.”

“You’ve been holding me prisoner!”

“Have I? Like you couldn’t have actually gotten away from me if you had really wanted to.” He sat up.

“But--” Rey paused in shock and sat up to better face Kylo. She bit her bottom lip, thinking about what he had just said. He did have a point. At no point had he held a blaster to her head or lightsaber to her throat or anything like that, even if there had been an ambiguous implied threat from him as he had barely let her leave his sight for the past 36 hours. She’d even admitted to herself that she felt an unexplainable attraction to him--was that why she was still her? On some level, was she curious and wanted to act on that attraction?

Kylo shook his head. “I can’t believe that I was stupid enough to think that you wouldn’t reject me again. You’d even said that you would have considered it under different circumstances.”

“Reject you? I’m not rejecting you…” Rey’s voice trailed off as she caught what she was saying. She realized that she was no longer confused about her feelings towards Kylo Ren. (Well, maybe she was still a bit confused, but she at least knew what she wanted from him at this particular moment.)

Placing her hands on his shoulders, she pushed Kylo back onto the bed. Aggressively, she pressed her lips to his and kissed him passionately. Taken by surprise for about half a second, Kylo wasted no time in kissing her back. She slung her leg over his hips so that she was on her knees, straddling his lap. Her hands moved to his cheeks, and his hands moved to her waist as Rey deepened the kiss. Their tongues intermingled, as they hungrily explored each others’ mouths. On one hand she knew that they shouldn’t be doing this, but on the other hand, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Rey then took the opportunity to do something that she had wanted to do ever since Kylo had taken off his mask for her in the interrogation room. She moved her hands to his head and began to run her fingers through his soft, silky hair. Kylo moaned softly and broke the kiss. Gently and without breaking eye contact, he flipped Rey onto her back and climbed on top of her, letting the weight of his lower body rest on her and partially bracing himself with his arms. He started kissing her neck, then let his kisses trail down to Rey’s collar bone. In response, she tilted her head back to give him better access. She noted a fluttery feeling forming in her lower abdomen. For a moment, she couldn’t believe her circumstances--here she was, becoming increasingly aroused by this man whom she had seen do horrible things, yet was uncontrollably attracted to. 

Kylo shifted slightly, pressing his pelvis into Rey’s thigh. Her eyes grew wide with surprise at how hard he was. She tried to tell herself that it should be no shock, given how aroused she felt her own body becoming. On the other hand, was she, who was just recently a scavenger, having this sort of physical effect of one of the most powerful Force users in the galaxy? Granted, she’d heard pilots back at the Resistance base crack jokes about “morning wood,” so maybe that was partially at play here.

“It’s you,” Kylo mumbled, partially lifting his mouth from Rey’s throat. “This is all you.” His hands roamed to her sides, with one hand creeping up under the hem of her camisole top. 

Rey gasped, her hands clutching at Kylo’s back. Her senses felt like they were on overload, and he hadn’t even touched her anywhere intimate yet.

Kylo’s hand continued to roam up Rey’s side, stopping just short of her breast. He looked up and locked eyes with her again. “Let me know at any time if I’m making you uncomfortable, or if you want me to stop.”

“No, don’t stop,” Rey panted. She pulled his face towards hers and began kissing him again, rubbing the inside of her leg against the outside of Kylo’s.

A loud knock at the door jolted the couple out of their momentary bliss. Rey pulled back, breaking the kiss.

“Come back in a little bit!” Rey called out.

The pounding at the door resumed, this time with more urgency.

“Rey, it’s me, Arlissa! Can you come to the door?” The voice behind the door belonged to the Governor.

“Kriff,” Rey muttered. Kylo rolled over, allowing Rey to slide out of the bed and shuffle to the door.

“Good morning,” the Governor greeted Rey as she opened the door. Rey made sure to only open the door a few inches, blocking the Governor’s view into the room. She eyed Rey for a second, observing her disheveled state for a moment, and then frowned. “The lecture starts in 15 minutes. I wanted to see if you wanted to quickly grab something and head down there together, but it looks like you’ll be lucky just to make it down to the hall on time.” 

The Governor peeked over Rey’s shoulder and made eye contact with Kylo, who was sitting up in bed. Kylo waved sheepishly in return.

Addressing Rey again with a sly smile on her face, the Governor stated. “Now, I did tell you to try have fun while you’re here, but I do still need your assistance this week.” She glanced back at Kylo one more time. “Try to make it downstairs as soon as you can. I’ll hold seats for both of you.”

“Thank you,” Rey replied, feeling her face turning bright red.

“See you in a few minutes.” The Governor turned to leave, and Rey closed the door.

Rey walked back over to Kylo who was now sitting on the side of the bed. “I didn’t realize how late it was. I guess we should get ready.”

“I guess so.” He placed his hands at her waist and pulled her towards him for a kiss. Unlike the frenzied exchange that they’d had moments ago, this kiss was soft and tender. 

Rey savored the feel of Kylo’s lips and tongue for a moment before pulling away. “I’m going to go change.” She gave him a peck on the lips and grabbed a change of clothing out of her travel bag. She disappeared into the ‘fresher.

“You know, you can change in front of me--you don’t need to go to the ‘fresher for that,” Kylo commented with a smirk.

Rey popped her head out of the door. “Not yet. Maybe later,” she grinned at him but then added “Considering that I went to sleep still somewhat convinced that you were going to haul me back to your Star Destroyer, I think we’ve made quite a bit of progress this morning.”

“Later then. And promise me that there will be a later,” Kylo replied with a hopeful smile.

“I promise,” Rey reassured him before disappearing back inside the ‘fresher.

 

***

 

Rey and Kylo managed to slip into the lecture a few minutes after the speaker had started. Governor Oriclup had been thoughtful enough to sit in one of the back rows, where she’d saved seats for both of them, and thankfully, only a few heads turned as the two latecomers made their way to their seats. One person that did notice, however, was General Hux, who Rey noted never took his eyes off of her and Kylo from the moment that they entered the room until they sat down. 

Much like the first day of the summit, every time that Rey looked up, it seemed like General Hux was staring at her. She resolved to ignore him, instead concentrating on staring ahead at the speaker at the podium in the front of the room. 

As soon as the summit broke for the first intermission of the day, Hux bounded over to Rey and Kylo. He slapped Kylo on the back; Kylo flinched at the gesture.

“Ren!” Hux exclaimed excitedly.

“Hux,” Kylo nodded.

“I was looking for you this morning, but you weren’t in your room.”

“That’s possible.” Kylo kept his tone neutral.

Hux gestured to Rey. “I hadn’t realized that the two of you had already become...so close.” HIs eyes roved up and down Rey’s body.

Instinctively, Rey stepped closer to Kylo, practically leaning into him.

“Did you want something,  _ Armitage _ ?” Kylo asked sternly.

“As a matter of fact, yes.” Hux cleared his throat. “I wanted to make sure that you were planning to participate in the Sabacc tournament tonight.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t. Rey and I have plans tonight.” He grabbed Rey’s hand for emphasis.

“And what plans are those?” Hux smirked. His insinuation was clear. He continued, not waiting for a response. “Rey, your paramour here is a world class Sabacc player. He could probably play professionally and make a good living, if he so chose.” He turned to Kylo. “I’d hate for Rey to miss out on the chance to see your card-playing skills in action. She certainly won’t see anything like it when she returns to Birren.”

“These government types won’t exactly present much of a challenge to me. I’d rather spend time with Rey while I have a chance,” Kylo replied.

“Rey can sit with you. Arkanis City regulations are less strict than professional tournament rules. She simply can’t offer you advice on the cards.” Hux’s smile was nearly gleeful.

Rey decided that it was probably in everyone’s best interests to play along and turned to Kylo. “I think it could be fun. I’ve never watched a Sabacc tournament before. And Governor Oriclup did bring me along for this summit specifically so that I could be exposed to more galactic culture.” 

“So you’ll be joining us, then? At the very least, it will be a good representation for First Order military interests,” Hux stated.

“Sure,” Kylo shrugged.

Hux punched him in the arm. “Don’t sound so excited,” he said sarcastically. “The tournament won’t run that late tonight--they’re only playing to qualify a semi-final round for tomorrow. You’ll still have plenty of quality time to spend with this lovely young lady after you slay your competition at the tables.”

“I guess we will see you there, then,” Kylo stated, his voice unenthusiastic.

“Good! Check-in time for the tournament is at 2000 hours. I’ve already had the First Order pay your buy-in fee.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, and if I don’t see you before then, good luck tonight.”

 

***

 

After grabbing a quick bite when the summit broke for lunch, Kylo sent Rey to the casino shops with several hundred dollars in First Order credits with the instructions to purchase a couple of new dresses.

Rey shook her head, smiling to herself, at how surreal this situation felt. She stepped into a formalwear shop that was part of the hotel-casino complex. Kylo had given her instructions to purchase two cocktail dresses--one for that evening and one for the next evening, when the Sabacc tournament was scheduled to wrap up.

“You’re awfully confident that you’ll be making it to the semi-finals,” Rey had chided him.

“I’m awfully confident that I’ll win the whole kriffing tournament,” Kylo replied with a smirk. “And you would be too, if you’d ever seen me play Sabacc.” He then handed her a stack of credits and told her, “I need you looking fabulous so that when you walk up behind me and kiss me on the neck, the players across from me will be watching you and not thinking about their cards.”

Kylo had sent her off with a kiss. Rey had been somewhat disappointed that they hadn’t been able to head back to her room during their lunch break to continue that morning’s activities, but she had to remind herself that she was technically at the conference to do a job, not to make out with her boss’s estranged son. 

A shop attendant approached Rey as she perused a rack of dresses. “Can I help you, Miss?”

Rey nodded. “Yes, I’m looking for a couple of dresses to wear to the Sabacc tournament for the next two nights. I was told that I needed to look fabulous.”

The attendant smiled, “I think we’ll be able to accomplish that,” and led Rey further into the shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we got a kiss this chapter! That means that smut is pretty much just around the corner. The fic earns its rating very, very soon. ;)
> 
> Thank you again for all of your kudos and comments, wonderful readers!


	7. Day 3 (Night)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And with this chapter, the fic earns its rating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In our last chapter, Rey and Kylo shared a hot-and-heavy makeout session after waking up together in Rey's bed. Their plans for the evening were temporarily delayed when Hux insisted that Kylo participate in the First Order-sponsored Sabacc tournament at the hotel casino. Also, Casino Royale references.

When the summit’s lectures finally broke for the day, Rey and Kylo ate a quick dinner, then each retreated back to their respective hotel rooms for the showers they’d missed that morning and to get ready for the evening’s Sabacc tournament. Just as she had done for the social mixer earlier in the week, Governor Oriclup helped Rey apply her makeup and style her hair in Rey’s hotel room once Rey had put on her new dress--a long, purple, backless gown with a crystal-encrusted deep v-neck.

General Oriclup took a step backwards to admire her work. “Rey, my dear, you look stunning. If Leia had thoughts of you blending in here, she sorely miscalculated things.”

“Will you be attending to the tournament?” Rey asked.

General Oriclup laughed. “I may be from Birren, but I never pass up a chance to play competitive Sabacc. Of course, no one plays Sabacc quite like Leia or like her late husband used to.”

“Really?”

“You know, Han won the Millennium Falcon in a Sabacc game.”

Rey grinned. “I did not know that.” She then laughed. “I’m trying to picture General Organa gambling.”

The Governor shook her head. “Well, you just don’t know Leia well enough yet. That woman can drink most men under the table and out-curse a smuggler.” She placed a hand on Rey’s shoulder. “You just need to spend time with her when she’s not in ‘General mode’. She clearly likes and trusts you a lot, otherwise she wouldn’t have sent you on a solo assignment like this so early on.”

Rey shook her head. “I don’t know how much longer she’ll like me if she ever gets wind of some of the things that I’ve been doing here.”

Governor Oriclup chuckled. “Leia was young once, too. I can’t imagine that she’d fault you for having a fling with a dashing young man like the one you’ve found. He seems very well-mannered, and he’s clearly very into you. Heck, Han was a smuggler when Leia began dating him.”

“I guess so.” The conversation was starting to make Rey very uncomfortable. 

The Governor walked over to the door and started to exit before turning around and addressing Rey one final time. “It’s funny--there’s something about him that reminds me a little of Han.”  

 

***

Rey made sure to wait until the Sabacc tournament had started before making her entrance onto the casino floor. She spotted Kylo’s back immediately; there was no mistaking those broad shoulders and mane of wavy black hair.

As Kylo had semi-jokingly asked her to, she approached him from behind while he sat at the table. Tenderly, she placed her arms over his shoulders and kissed the side of his neck, as he’d requested. He wheeled around in his chair with a huge smile on his face. “You do look fabulous,” he whispered and gave her a slightly-longer-than-it-needed to be kiss on the lips. He was dressed in a tailored suit--something that Rey would never imagined seeing him in. Just upon viewing how incredibly handsome he looked tonight, Rey felt her face grow hot and a fluttering feeling forming in her lower abdomen.

With one arm still around his shoulder, Rey walked to Kylo’s other side as he wheeled his chair back to face the table. Rey immediately noticed that the stack of chips in front of Kylo was considerably larger than anyone else’s at the table. “It looks like you’re off to a good start,” she commented.

“I am,” he placed his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

“Rey, you look absolutely stunning tonight.”

Rey looked up to see that Governor Oriclup was sitting across the table from Kylo; she hadn’t even noticed the Governor’s presence until just now. “Thank you,” she said, unable to hide her grin.

A waiter approached the table and began to take drink orders.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” he asked Kylo.

Initially, Kylo waved him off but then changed his mind. “Three measures of Gordon's; one of vodka; half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it over ice, and add a thin slice of lemon peel.”

“I’ll take one of those, too,” Governor Oriclup added.

“Me too,” said another gambler at the table who Rey didn’t recognize.

The dealer sighed and asked, “Can we get back to playing Sabacc now?”

 

***

 

By the end of the evening, Rey was sitting in Kylo’s lap, and Kylo had handily advanced through two tournament rounds and was positioned well for the tournament conclusion on the next night. Although she was somewhat reluctant to do so, Rey admitted to herself that she was actually having “fun”. The concept of “fun” had been a luxury for most of her life. As a scavenger on Jakku, her focus had to be entirely on survival, whether it was salvaging parts from downed spacecraft for food or physically defending herself from those who would steal (or worse) from her, “fun” was something that only other people got to experience. 

“Friendship” was another thing that had been reserved for other people until she met Finn and the rest of her friends from the Resistance six months ago. As a scavenger, making friends put you at risk of being stolen from. She’d gone nearly a lifetime without feeling like she could trust another human being.

Romantic relationships had always out of the question. She shifted in Kylo’s lap and lightly ran her fingers through his hair as he considered his cards, looking to complete his final win of the evening. She wasn’t naive enough to consider this--whatever “this” was--to be a romantic relationship after having made out with Kylo once. However, she also knew that there was  _ something _ there between them; there had always been something there between them if Rey were honest with herself. Meeting him face-to-face for the first time while strapped to an interrogation table and then watching him kill his own father certainly got things off to a bad start, but who knows what would have happened had they met under different circumstances. Softly, she kissed his neck and waited for the final game of the evening to draw to a close. She had a feeling that she knew where things were leading tonight, and the thought both thrilled her and frightened her.

 

***

As soon as the turblolift doors closed, Kylo was all over Rey--his frenzied hands and lips roving over any exposed skin on her body. Rey was very, very glad that Governor Oriclup had taken the lift up a few minutes earlier. The doors opened onto Rey’s floor, and the two of them spilled out into the hallway, pawing and groping each other until they reached the door to Rey’s room. Somehow, Rey found the focus to dig her card key out of her wristlet and was able to run it through the card reader to open the door to her (their?) room. 

Rey kicked off her shoes and pushed Kylo’s suit jacket off of his shoulders while he was trying to wrestle with the zipper at the back of her dress. 

“Wait,” Rey said breathlessly, and turned around to give Kylo easier access to the zipper. Seconds later, he had the zipper down and had pushed the straps of the dress down over her arms, with the dress pooling at her ankles. Now in just her undergarments, Rey turned back around and started undoing the buttons on Kylo’s dress shirt. He continued to attack her neck with kisses as she did so. 

Soon, Rey had Kylo’s shirt off. She paused to survey the bare, muscular torso that she had spent the previous evening sneaking glances at. She felt a flutter in her stomach as she eyed his chest again.

“Still like what you see?” he asked with a smirk.

She ran her hands over his chest, pressing a light kiss to one of his nipples. Looking up at him, she grinned slyly and replied, “Yeah, I think I could deal with spending another night next to this.”

At her remark, Kylo scooped her up and deposited Rey onto the bed. As he was about to flop down next to her, Rey stopped him. “Wait, those trousers need to come off. If I’m in my underwear, you should be, too.”

“If you say so,” Kylo smiled. 

Maintaining eye contact with Rey, he undid the fly on his trousers and stepped out of them.  As he approached the bed, Rey pulled back the covers and then scooted up to rest her head on a pillow. Kylo joined her on the bed, crawling up to lay next to her. With one hand on her hip, he rolled over to face her. His hand drifted from her hip up to cup her breast, which was still covered by the fabric of her bra. Rey inhaled sharply. She placed a hand behind his head, and pulled his face towards her to start another round of kissing. Rolling to her side, she soon felt his hand behind her back, unfastening her bra. With the clasp soon undone, she wriggled the rest of the way out of it, and tossed the bra over to the growing pile of clothing on the floor. Gently, he began to knead her breast while they continued kissing.

Rey threw one of her legs over Kylo’s and instinctively began to grind against him. She could feel how hard he already was, which in turn, increased her own sense of arousal. As if sensing her thoughts, Kylo slipped his hand under the waistband of her panties and slipped two fingers between her folds. He ran his fingers up and down the length of her slit a few times then began to massage her clit. Rey gasped at the touch. She had occasionally felt pings of desire for other attractive men that she had run across and had even fooled around a bit with a visiting trader’s son on Jakku, eventually allowing him to take her to bed in his parents’ ship while they were out for the evening, but her body had never reacted to  _ anyone _ like this before.

Rey slid her hand under the waistband of Kylo’s undershorts and lightly brushed his cock with her fingers. She was amazed at how hard he already was.

“What are you doing down there?” he murmured.

“Just trying to return the favor.” Her hips bucked as Kylo continued to finger her clit, as she lightly held onto his member.

“Not that I would normally mind, but I don’t think I’m going to last very long if you keep that up.” He paused. “Unless, of course, that’s as far as you want to take things right now. I don’t want to make you do anything that you don’t want to do.”    


Rey let go of his cock and placed her hands on either side of Kylo’s face and simply stated “I want you.”

Holding her gaze, he asked, “Are you sure? Have you done this before? I didn’t dig that deep when I looked--”

“Yes, I’m sure. And yes, I’ve done this once before. And to answer what’s probably your next question, I’ve got a contraceptive implant. Standard issue from the Resistance for women of childbearing age.” Her words came out in abbreviated gasps.

He kissed her neck again. She felt him begin to apply more pressure to her clit as he rubbed, increasing the tension that she felt in her groin area.

“Forces, I want you, Rey. I’ve never wanted anyone like this before,” he gasped.

Rey lifted her hips off the bed and began to slide her panties down over her hips and thighs. Kylo took the hint and peeled them the rest of the way off. He paused briefly, his eyes drinking in the naked woman who now laid before him on the bed.

“Yours, too.” Rey partially sat up and began to tug at the waistband on his undershorts. Kylo complied with removing them. He then laid back down next to her, and they resumed their frenzied kissing. She felt him slide a finger inside of her, which he then began to gently thrust in and out. Rey shuddered at the sensation and rolled to her back, letting her legs fall open to grant him easier access. He soon added a second finger, and Rey felt a spike in the level of her arousal. She clenched at the bedsheets in an effort to hold onto something.

“I want you inside of me,” she whispered to him.

Kylo nodded, kissed her lips, and positioning himself so that he was on his knees between her spread legs. Bracing himself on one hand, he leaned forward and positioned his cock at her entrance with his other hand. His glance went to Rey as if he was looking for reassurance.

“Yes, Kylo,” she nodded.

Kylo began to press into her, stopping once his tip was inside of her. Rey gasped. Kylo was clearly much larger than the 19-year-old boy who she had lost her virginity to last year. She watched him watch her face as he slid the rest of the way into her.

“Okay?” Kylo asked cautiously.

“Mmm-hmm,” Rey replied. She was still somewhat incredulous that he--Kylo Ren--was now inside of her, filling her, and that this was something that she wanted more than anything else in the world. 

Kylo’s thrusts started off slow and measured, each one bringing on a separate ripple of pleasure. She found herself unintentionally moaning along in sync to his motion. He never broke eye contact with her, gauging her reaction to each movement.

“You can go harder,” she whispered.

He followed her cue and began thrusting with staccato hard thrusts. Rey wrapped her legs around his waist in an attempt to take him in deeper. 

A moan escaped his lips. “Rey…” Sweat was beading on his forehead, his hair sticking to his face. Rey was briefly reminded of his sweaty disheveled appearance as they dueled on Starkiller Base and smiled to herself at how much their dynamic had changed since then.

Involuntarily, Rey’s toes began to curl and she physically found herself needing something to grab onto as she felt the tension build within her body. She was vaguely aware that Kylo was thrusting so hard at this point that the headboard was now banging against the wall that was shared by Governor Oriclup’s room. She briefly wondered if the banging was audible on the Governor’s side of the wall.

Kylo slid his hand between them and rubbed her clit, sending a wave of pleasure spiking through her. She felt herself clenching around him, and his next thrust sent her over the top. Dizziness overtook her and she held onto Kylo’s arms for dear life as she rode out the waves of her orgasm. Her climax triggered Kylo’s climax, and he gave her several deep, final thrusts as he emptied himself inside of her. When he finished, he nearly collapsed on top of her, barely holding himself up with his arms. Carefully, he pulled out of her, and drew Rey to him, kissing her first on the forehead and then on the mouth. 

“You’re amazing,” Kylo murmured to her.

Rey laid silently in his arms for an undetermined amount of time, wishing that she could lay here like this with Kylo for the rest of the week, if not longer. She couldn’t recall a time in her life that she had ever felt as content as she did right now.

On the bedside table, Rey’s holopad chimed. Out of habit, Rey started to reach for it. 

Kylo gently grabbed her arm and kissed her neck. “It can wait.”

She grinned at him and used the hand that had used to reach for the holopad, and instead ran it through Kylo’s hair. “What if it’s the General?” she asked, figuring it better to refer to her boss as General Organa than as his mother.

“She’ll call back.” His hand slid over to her hip, and he kissed her on the mouth. 

Lightly, he grazed her stomach with his fingers, again triggering a tingling sensation in her groin area. She took this as a cue and pulled his face close to hers again, kissing him hungrily. Her hand drifted down to his cock, which Rey pleasantly found was already beginning to stiffen again. 

Kylo raised his eyebrows at her. “You’re already ready for more?”

She grinned at him mischievously. “I am if you are.”

“I’m getting there. Let’s make sure that you catch up,” he replied and slid his hand between her legs.

The holopad on the nightstand chimed again.  Rey didn’t consider answering it this time.

 

***

General Leia Organa paced back and forth across the floor of the communications center at the Resistance base. She was worried.  Rey had already missed her check-in time with the General by an hour, and Leia knew Rey well enough to know that if she wasn’t answering her holopad, Rey must have a good reason for it. Leia thought about trying to contact Governor Oriclup but hesitated; it was late at night on Arkanis, and the Governor had likely retired to bed by this time. On the other hand, not being able to reach Rey was an important enough reason to possibly wake up the Governor. The Governor had never had children of her own, but surely, she’d understand Leia’s concern.

Leia inhaled deeply and opened an encrypted connection to Governor Oriclup’s holopad. 

The Governor answered almost immediately. From the looks of her hologram, she was dressed in her nightclothes. “Leia!” she exclaimed. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you. Is everything okay?”

“Arlissa! Did I wake you? I’m sorry to be calling so late.”

“Don’t worry about it. I hadn’t gone to sleep yet.”

Leia breathed a sigh of relief. At least everything seemed fine with the Governor. She reminded herself that the summit was being held in Arkanis City, and although it would be out of character for her, it  _ was _ possible that Rey was simply enjoying the nightlife like a typical young person. Given Arkanis City’s reputation, there was probably a very non-sinister reason for Rey not answering her holopad. 

Not wanting to sound like she was paranoid, Leia chose her words carefully. “I’m probably just being overprotective, but I’m a little concerned about Rey.” 

“Rey? She’s fine. What’s going on?” The Governor was clearly surprised by the question.

Leia frowned. A loud banging noise was prominent in the background. “What’s that sound? Is someone hammering on the wall at this hour?”

The Governor chuckled. “That’s the people in the room next door.”

Leia sly smiled. “Oh...I assume that’s why you’re still up?”

“Yup. It doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to get to sleep until they go to sleep. The walls here are thinner than you would expect for a fancy hotel like this one.”

With a smile still on her face, Leia shook her head wistfully. She remembered her younger days with Han, and how the two of them had probably kept various hotel room neighbors up all night on more than one occasion.  Amusingly, Leia was now able to make out muffled voices along with banging noise that she was overhearing. Clearly, the Governor’s neighbors were having a good night.

Leia decided not to let her thoughts become mired in nostalgia, though, and she quickly turned her attention back to her reason for the late-night holochat. “So, back to Rey…Have you seen her tonight?  She hasn’t been answering my holochat calls this evening, which is why I was worried.”

“I can assure you that Rey is fine,” said the Governor with a grin. “I suspect that she’s probably just too busy to answer your calls right now.”

“I assume that she’s out with some of the other young aides, experiencing the Arkanis City nightlife?”

Governor Oriclup raised her eyebrows. “She hasn’t told you about him yet, then?”

“Told me about who?” 

“Rey made a...friend...here.” The Governor gave Leia a knowing grin.

“Rey? Really?” That was not what Leia was expecting to here. Rey had her friends Finn and Poe, but outside of the two of them, she’d always seemed so reserved on the Resistance base.

“Yup. Who do you think is in the room next door?” The Governor lowered her voice and motioned with her neck towards the wall that was the source of the banging noise.

“Rey? No….” Leia couldn’t help but lean forward towards the holopad. She wouldn’t have batted an eye at Poe or Jess Testor taking someone home for the night while undercover, but Rey? Rey who was largely oblivious to or uninterested in most of the male attention that she’d received since joining the Resistance?

“Oh yes. Rey. She’s found herself quite a handsome young man.” The Governor leaned forward and whispered, “And this is the second time they’ve gone at it tonight, too.”

Leia felt slightly guilty gossiping about one of her reports, but it had been so long since she’d had a harmless distraction like this that she couldn’t help herself. “Who is he? One of the other young aides?”

The Governor’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, he’s not an aide. He’s one of the First Order guys who are here.”

Leia grimaced. “Please tell me that it’s not General Hux.”

Governor Oriclup laughed. “It’s not Hux.  Rey caught onto his act during that social mixer that they had the first night here when he wouldn’t stop handing her drinks.”

“That’s a relief, at least.” Leia shook her head. Her thoughts raced and returned to concern. Rey should know better than that, even though she had never been undercover before. To bring the enemy home to her bed? That was playing with fire, even for a short fling. She continued, “It just doesn’t seem like Rey to be...hooking up with someone, let alone someone with the First Order.”

“I really wouldn’t worry about it too much. Honestly, I think it’s just a case of two attractive young people with raging hormones. They’ve been inseparable ever since he peeled her off from Hux on that first night.”

Leia sighed, “I’m just having trouble reconciling the Rey that I know with the one who’s making those sounds on the other side of your wall.”

“We were young once, too.  Seriously, I think it’s just a case of her playing house with a hot guy while she can. Before Han, do you think you would have behaved differently than she is, if you were in a situation where no one was really going to find out?”

“Probably not. But that doesn’t mean that I have to be comfortable with it,” Leia replied.

“Look, I know that I was supposed to stay out of things with this mission, but I give you my word that if anything seems amiss with Rey, I will let you know immediately. Okay?”

“Thank you.”

“Trust me, I’m pretty sure that those two are just celebrating his big win at the Sabacc tournament tonight,” the Governor grinned.

“What?” A knot instantly formed in Leia’s stomach. Sabacc? 

“Oh, he cleaned up at the Sabacc tournament tonight. He’s got to be the spot-on favorite to win the whole thing tomorrow night.”

Leia’s thoughts went straight to a young First Order officer that she knew was very skilled at Sabacc. She had a bad feeling about this.

Masking her emotions, Leia asked, “What else can you tell me about this young man?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have smut! And now that we've crossed that line, there will be more smut in the remaining chapters (although not all remaining chapters contain smut).
> 
> Thank you again, my wonderful readers, for your kudos and comments!


	8. Day 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after... Rey finally makes contact with Leia and tries to figure out if she suspects anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In our last chapter, Kylo and Rey finally did the deed. Unfortunately, they were so distracted that Rey missed her check-in with General Organa, who then called Governor Oriclup. After that phone call, how much does Leia know about what Rey and Kylo have been doing? Hmmmmm...

For the second morning in a row, Rey woke up in Kylo’s arms, although this morning, it was completely intentional. Her head rested in the crook of his arm while her body was pressed against his. Four days ago, if someone had told her that she’d be voluntarily sharing a bed with Kylo Ren, she would have thought that person was insane. She glanced over at the holocron on the bedside table--they’d slept in this morning, but not overslept to quite the same extent as they had the previous day. She turned back to Kylo and placed a soft kiss to his chest.

“Mmmm,” Kylo stirred.

“I wish this didn’t have to end so soon,” Rey sighed, absentmindedly tracing a circle around one of his nipples.

“It doesn’t have to.” He kissed her head. “But let’s talk about that later, okay?”

Rey jerked her hand back. “I’m not joining the First Order.”

Kylo rolled his eyes, immediately becoming alert. “I’m not talking about you joining the First Order. I don’t even know if that would be a realistic option at this point, even if you suddenly decided that you wanted to do that. But we’ll talk about this later, okay?”

“Okay.” She kissed him on the lips as she looked into his eyes.

Kylo sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Still completely naked from last night’s activities, he walked around to Rey’s side of the bed. She tried not to stare--they had been in such a hurry to get each other’s clothes off last night that she hadn’t yet had the opportunity to fully appreciate his body. He placed two fingers under Rey’s chin and tilted her head up, then gave her a deep kiss on the mouth.

“I”m going to visit the ‘fresher and take a shower. If you want, I’d love it if you would join me,” he requested with a devilish look in his eye.

“Would you?” 

“Wouldn’t you like to have me soap up your--” He paused and frowned. “Your holopad is still blinking.”

“Kriff!” Rey cursed, grabbing the holopad off the bedside table. “I missed my check-in last night and forgot to call the General back.”

Kylo started laughing. “Just call her back now. Join me in the shower when you’re done.” He kissed her again and disappeared into the ‘fresher.

 

***

Rey looked nervously at the holopad. She dreaded making this call. Obviously, she’d have to make up a good excuse for missing the call. She couldn’t exactly say, “Sorry, I missed my check-in. I was too busy getting fucked by your son. You know, the one who killed your husband and who is supposed to be our enemy.” She pulled the bedsheets up under her armpits to ensure that her nudity was completely covered before initiating the call. Nervously, she started punching in the access code. If she was lucky, she’d miss the General and be able to just leave a message, in which case she’d apologize for missing check-in and assure the General that she was fine.

The holopad chimed several times. So far, so good--no answer.

“Hello? Rey?” The General accepted the holochat session, and her image came into Rey’s view.

“General Organa,” Rey nodded at the image. “Let me start by apologizing for missing my check-in last night. It was irresponsible and unprofessional of me.” Granted, everything she had done the previous night could be construed as irresponsible and unprofessional, Rey thought to herself.

“So you’re okay? Everything is okay there?” Leia asked, unable to mask the concern in her voice. 

Did the General’s eyes look puffy? The quality of the holochat wasn’t great, so Rey couldn’t be sure if she was actually seeing what she thought she was seeing. Missing her check-in last night couldn’t have worried the General that much, could it?

“Yup,” Rey replied, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. “I’m okay here. Everything’s fine. Situation normal.”

“Rey,” Leia paused. “Is there anything that you need to tell me?”   


Oh no. What did the General know? The General couldn’t possibly have found out about her and Kylo, could she? Rey imagined that if the General had any idea that she was banging her son, she’d have a squad of Resistance soldiers pull her out of Arkanis so fast that her head would spin. 

Rey took a deep breath, trying to think rationally. She’d missed her check-in and hadn’t returned the General’s calls, and even though Governor Oriclup was supposed to be left out of this mission unless absolutely necessary, maye the General had called the Governor at some point the previous night. The Governor didn’t know that Kylo was the General’s son, so in all likelihood, Rey was safe on that count. As far as the rest went, she could try to tease out how much the General knew.

Rey took a deep breath and answered General Organa. “I was out socializing last night. I hadn’t realized that I’d missed the check-in or your calls. By the time that I made it back to my room, I thought that it was too late to return your calls, and I just figured that I’d call you in the morning.”

The General’s look became stern. “I spoke with General Oriclup last night. I know that you were in your room when I called.”

“I--” Rey suddenly felt like she was going to be sick.

“Rey, I could hear you over the holochat. Your hotel has thin walls. And you were  _ loud _ ,” the General continued.

Rey’s face grew hot. She suddenly felt less confident as to what she’d talked herself into believing the General didn’t know.

“Rey, are you going to join me?” Kylo’s voice called out from the shower. 

Instinctively, Rey looked up, reacting to his voice. When she looked back, the Governor was staring at her through the holochat, her expression unreadable.

“You’re right. I brought someone back to my room last night,” Rey admitted sheepishly. With that confession out of the way, she called out to Kylo, “I’ll be there in a minute.” She then turned her attention back to the Governor. “Um, he stayed the night. He’s still here.”

The General raised an eyebrow. “I know. I just heard him.”

Rey felt her face turn bright red. “He’s really nice…” she said softly. Was that a look of relief passing over the General’s face? She couldn’t have recognized her son’s voice calling out from the shower, could she? Rey knew that she was probably just paranoid--there was no way that the General would be able to maintain this calm facade if she’d thought that Rey was banging her son.

“Rey, the Governor brought up something that I wanted to ask you about.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Now, I knew about General Hux, but the Governor told me that there are other officers from the First Order there at the summit?”

“That would be correct,” Rey nodded. “There are a few of them here. I mean, they’re here, but it’s not really a large military presence.” Rey didn’t think that she needed to go into exact numbers...or identities of those officers. Really, it was just Hux, Kylo and two junior officers who seemed to be hanging around and trying to suck up to Hux.

“Be careful, Rey. Please,” General Organa’s voice was nearly pleading, bringing on Rey’s feelings of guilt.

“I will be. I mean, I am careful. I promise,” Rey tried to reassure her.

“The Governor told me that your man is quite handsome.”

“He is. Very handsome.”

“And quite good at Sabacc, I hear?”

“Quite good. He’s in the finals for the summit tournament tonight. I’m not sure when we--I mean I, will be getting back to my room.”

“Please be safe, Rey. Don’t take any unnecessary risks.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t.”

“Is everything else okay there?” the General asked.

“The lectures are a bit boring, but I guess that was to be expected.” Rey paused. “Anything else?”

“That’s all I have. Just please try to make check-in, or at least, give me a heads up that you’ll be missing it, if you’re otherwise occupied again this week? I worry about having you in enemy territory.”

“Absolutely. I promise that I will be better about communication going forward.”

“Thank you.”

“Talk to you later?” 

“Talk to you later.” Leia hesitated, then quickly added, “And Rey, with the First Order being there…” she paused. “If, if you see my son, let me know immediately so that we can pull you out. I don’t want you to try to handle that situation on your own.”

“Of course.” A nervous feeling emerged in Rey’s stomach.

“And if you do see him and can talk to him without endangering yourself, please tell him that I miss him, and that he can still come home.”

“Of course.” Rey nodded, suddenly feeling paranoid again.

“Take care, Rey.” The General signed off.

Somewhat in shock and not sure how to interpret the General’s words, Rey calmly placed the holopad back on the nightstand and headed to the ‘fresher to join the General’s son in the shower. For now, she wanted to put all thought of the General out of her mind.

 

***

 

Things didn’t go quite as smoothly in the shower as Rey had hoped. Her distraction, which she was trying to hide, probably played a role, although that wasn’t the entire cause. Unfortunately, the shower was where Rey and Kylo discovered that a combination of a large height difference and a slick floor isn’t a good mix for trying to have intercourse. After a few false starts, a lot of slipping, and one near-sex-injury, they’d settled for soaping up each others bodies and manually bringing each other to climax. 

 

***

 

Amazingly, Rey and Kylo made it down to the hotel cafe to grab a quick breakfast before heading to that morning’s lecture. They ran into Governor Oriclup in line on their way out; she was purchasing a cup of caf and a pastry. The Governor eyed them with a suspicious smirk.

“Did you ever get a hold of your mother?” she asked Rey.

Her mother? What was the Governor talking about? Oh...the Governor was talking about  _ General Organa _ \--trying to cover for Rey in front of Kylo, who, in theory, shouldn’t know who Rey really was. Rey felt a sense of relief; if her cover hadn’t been blown to the Governor, then there was a good chance that the General wouldn’t know who had been keeping Rey company for the past few days.

“Yes, I spoke with her this morning,” Rey replied.

Kylo snorted, clearly trying to hold back a laugh. This action did not go unnoticed by the Governor, who gave him a strange look. Kylo tried to recover by taking a long drink from his cup of caf.

Rey continued. “Um, I’m sorry if there was a lot of noise last night. We hadn’t realized that the walls were, uh, so thin.” She blushed.

The Governor’s glance passed from Kylo to Rey. “Well, now you know. At least, your mother is aware that you were having a good time last night, even if she heard more than you’d probably like.”

Rey blushed, and Kylo suddenly appeared embarrassed and looked down at his boots, running his hand through his hair. 

“We’ll try to be quieter tonight,” Rey said sheepishly, then added, “If you’d like, we can save you a seat for today.”

“That would be great, thank you,” the Governor replied.

As soon as the Governor was out of earshot, Kylo pulled Rey aside and whispered loudly, “You didn’t tell me that my mother heard everything!”

Rey shrugged. “I didn’t exactly get the chance. And she didn’t know that you were the one with me, anyway. Really, I’m the one who looks bad here.” She smiled and pulled him down for a quick kiss. “I’m the one hooking up with one of the people that I’m supposed to be spying on.”

“Oh? Hooking up, that’s all this is?” Kylo feigned a hurt look.

Rey kissed him again. “Yes. I’m just using you for sex for the week.”

He pulled her closer to him and returned her kiss. “Well, I guess I can live with that.” 

When they broke the kiss, they both became aware that they were attracting stares from various summit attendees who were entering the lecture room. 

Kylo took her hand and lead her to the room entrance. “Come on, let’s go inside and fight to stay awake for the next three hours.”

 

***

 

When the summit broke at mid-day, Rey and Kylo grabbed a couple of boxed lunches with the intention of taking them back up to her room. Unfortunately, they were intercepted at the elevator by General Hux.

“Ren!” the General called out, stopping the couple in their tracks.

“Hux,” Kylo stated flatly.

“Once again, you weren’t in your room this morning, and I was unable to find you.” Hux’s irritation was clear.

“Well, you’ve found me now. What do you need?”

“In the long-term, I need you to stop putting your personal interests ahead of everything else, but in the immediate time-frame, I have a few updates that I need to discuss with you.” Hux glanced at Rey. “Alone.” 

Kylo scowled. “Can it wait until the next break? We have lunch plans.”

“I’d hate to take you away from your...nooner,” Hux sniped, “but, I really do need to fill you in on a few developments. You can bring your lunch with you.”

“I think I’ll go sit and eat outside and enjoy the lovely weather that we’re having,” Rey smiled, ignoring Hux’s snark. She planted a kiss on Kylo’s cheek. “Meet me back inside?”

“Yes, I’ll see you in a little bit.” He watched as Rey took her lunch and headed out the door towards the garden area just outside of the hotel.

 

***

 

Kylo looked annoyed when he sat down next to Rey just before the start of the afternoon’s lectures.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Hux. Trust me, there’s no reason that the things that we went over couldn’t have waited,” he sighed.

Rey squeezed his arm. “Well, at least he won’t intrude on our evening.”

“I hope not. I had to give him your room number because he insisted on having a way to find me. Never mind the fact that we’ve been in your room instead of mine because I wanted to avoid him,” Kylo muttered. 

“We can always not answer the door if he comes by.”

He looked at Rey with a serious look on his face. “I do need to talk to you about something regarding him...but not here. When we’re somewhere a bit more private.”

“Okay,” she replied cheerfully and laid her head on his shoulder, waiting for the afternoon’s lectures to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you AGAIN, my lovely readers, for all of your amazing kudos and comments! I am very, very flattered!
> 
> The smut returns next chapter.


	9. Day 4 (Night)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the night of the Sabacc tournament finals!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When we last left Rey and Kylo, Rey had had an awkward holochat with Leia in the morning, and Hux had cockblocked Kylo from stealing Rey away for a lunchtime quickie. Tonight, the final rounds of the Sabacc tournament await our couple, along with whatever leisure activities they decide to pursue after!

Rey was not surprised that Kylo handily won the final round of the Sabacc tournament that night; however, she was surprised at how quickly he finished off his opponents. Much to the non-amusement of his opponents, he accomplished his victory with Rey sitting in his lap (again) for most of the evening.

For the final night of the tournament, Rey wore a silk emerald green gown whose color perfectly complimented her hazel eyes and brunette hair color. The dress had a deep, wide v-neck with spaghetti straps. Although backless, a ruching detail over Rey’s bum wrapped around the front forming a drape, causing the dress’s silhouette to have a slight drop-waist effect.

“You know, if you ever wanted to leave the First Order, I think you could make a career out of being a professional Sabacc player,” Rey whispered in Kylo’s ear.

“Only if you’re my professional good luck charm,” he whispered back and gave her ear a light nibble, eliciting a groan of annoyance from one of Kylo’s last opponents, who was sitting across the table from the couple.

A woman who Rey had recognized from attending the summit commented to the groaner, “Lighten up. I think that young love is adorable.” She then addressed the couple, “How long have you two been together? I think it’s nice that you were able to attend the summit together.”

Rey looked up and smiled shyly. “Just this week.”

“Really? I would have guessed that you would have been together for much longer than that, although not too long--you’re clearly still in the ‘honeymoon’ phase of your relationship. I did actually make a wager with my companion here,” she placed a hand on the shoulder of the groaner, “that you two would be visiting one of the wedding chapels here before you left Arkanis.”

Blushing, Rey replied, “Well, I think we’ve got a ways to go before we start talking marriage or anything.” She felt Kylo squeeze her waist in response.

“Well then, at least my friend here will win something tonight, I guess,” the woman smiled.

The groaner rolled his eyes. His companion ordered a round of drinks for the table, and gameplay resumed.

 

***

 

If either Rey or Kylo had been expecting a night of slow, sensuous lovemaking after Kylo’s Sabacc win, they would have been in for a rude awakening. They had made out and groped each other for the entire turbolift ride up from the casino floor, with Rey even toying with the idea of hitting the Emergency Stop button so that they could just get things on right there. They stumbled their way out of the lift and to the door of Rey’s room, completely oblivious to the handful of bemused onlookers that they passed along the way. Completely flustered, Rey needed three tries to get the cardreader to successfully read her keycard to open the door.

As soon as they spilled into the room, Rey pulled back the covers and flopped onto the bed, laying on her back and trying her best to give Kylo a beckoning look. Kylo climbed onto the bed next to her and kneeled facing her. 

“Would you be up for doing things a little differently tonight?” he asked with a mischievous smile.

Rey nodded, smiling.

“I want to try this with you on all fours. Would you be okay with that?”

“Mmmmm-hmmm.” Rey had occasionally heard sex tales around the base from her fellow pilots and Resistance soldiers around the base that included hints of the position that Kylo was describing, typically accompanying descriptions of particularly passionate nights of sex. Rey was intrigued.

Still wearing her dress, she did as Kylo asked. He moved into position behind her and rubbed his hands over her ass, assessing the situation. “This might work better if you drop onto your forearms,”

Rey did as she was told, leaving her bottom lifted up in the air. Even with her dress and panties still on, she felt incredibly exposed. Rey found that feeling surprisingly thrilling. 

Facing straight ahead on her forearms, she felt Kylo pull her panties down over her hips, leaving them down around her knees. He reached around with one hand and slid a finger between her folds, pausing to give an extra few rubs to her already-hardening clit. Rey involuntarily moaned at the touch.

“Oh Rey, you’re already so wet,” he murmured. “I still can’t believe that I do this to you.”

She flipped her hair and looked back at him. “I still can’t believe the things that you do to me, either.”

He began to rub her in earnest, sending small jolts of electricity through Rey’s body. After a minute of rubbing and circling her clit, he slipped two fingers inside of her. They slid in easily, and Rey shuddered at the new sensation. 

He’d only been working her with his fingers for a short time when Rey blurted out, “I’m ready, trust me. I want you to fuck me, now.”

Kylo didn’t need to be told a second time. Rey heard the rustling of fabric behind her as Kylo lowered his pants to mid-thigh. For just a second, she felt his tip at her entrance as he positioned himself. Then, in one smooth motion, he slid his hardened cock into her.

“Ohhhh…” Rey moaned. Feeling him inside of her from this position was so much more intense than in the position they’d used the previous night. 

She felt Kylo place his hands on her hips. Slowly, he began to thrust with long, smooth strokes. Rey felt as if every single nerve ending within her walls was being stimulated. Kylo soon picked up the pace, thrusting harder and faster. Outside of Rey’s moans, the sound of skin slapping on skin became the only audible sound in the room. Much more quickly than the previous night, Rey sensed the pressure building up within her body. She grasped at the pillow in front of her, and her toes curled. Noises that she couldn’t recall ever having made before were now leaving her mouth with each thrust. The pressure within her body became more and more intense; her walls began to clench, and Kylo gripped her hips more tightly. Seconds later, she’d been tipped over the edge, feeling several waves of her climax. With several deep thrusts, Kylo pulled her hips back towards his own, as he also climaxed and released his seed into her. He stayed still for a minute, then slid out of her and flopped down next to Rey on the bed. Rey then pulled her dress back down and immediately collapsed down onto her stomach.

She rolled onto her side to face him. “So that was...intense…”

“Yeah,” Kylo answered, still panting lightly. He swallowed and brushed a wisp of hair off of Rey’s face. “We have to figure something out. This can’t end when you leave at the end of the week.”

“Come with me. Back to the Resistance.” Rey placed a hand on Kylo’s upper arm.

“You know that I can’t do that. Not after everything I’ve done.”

“Who has to know?  The only people there who have seen you without your mask are Finn, me, and your mother. And I can handle Finn.”

Kylo snorted. “And what are you going to do about my mother? I can’t imagine that she ever wants to see me again, and I can’t say that I blame her.”

“Kylo,” Rey paused. “Your mother misses you. Sure, I know that things would be weird for a while, but I think that she’d welcome you home.”

“Sure. Right.”

Rey propped herself on her forearm. “No, really. She told me that she misses you.”

“She told you that?”

“Yes. She told me that this morning, in fact.”

Kylo’s expression darkened. “When did you talk to my mother? And why were you talking about me?”

“I called her when you were in the ‘fresher because I missed my check-in last night. Remember?” She continued, “Anyway, at the end of the call, she told me that if I happened to run into you here, to tell you that she missed you.”

Kylo bolted straight up to a sitting position. “She knows that I’m here.”

“No, she doesn’t. I didn’t tell her anything.”

“She knows. She wouldn’t say something like that if she didn’t know. Trust me, Rey. I know my mother.”

“Relax,” Rey sat up and stroked his arm. “I’m sure that she doesn’t know anything.” Well, really, Rey  _ wasn’t _ sure, but she also didn’t know what else to say under these circumstances.

Kylo thought for a second and seemed to emotionally regroup. He then flatly stated, “I’m not going to the Resistance.”

“And I’m not going to the First Order.” Rey crossed her arms.

Kylo looked at her. “Actually, I agree with you on that. It would be too dangerous. If the Supreme Leader sensed that there was anything...emotional...going on between us, he’d kill one or both of us. He’d either kill you to teach me a lesson, or he’d decide that you were the more worthy apprentice and kill me. Plus, I really don’t want you being put through Snoke’s ‘training’ under any circumstances.” He slid back down and laid on his back.

“You’re so sweet,” she grinned.

“On a similar note, I’m starting to worry that Hux is getting a little suspicious.”

“Oh? I just thought he was jealous,” Rey stroked his arm.

“He’s a jealous asshole. In any case, be very careful about what you say around him. You need to be the aide from Birren, and don’t let your cover falter. When he dragged me away from you at lunch earlier today, he kept trying to catch me in an inconsistency with your cover story,” Kylo’s tone became serious.

“Thank you for the warning,” Rey replied sincerely.

“I hate the thought of not seeing you again for a while after this week is over,” Kylo sighed.

Rey slid down to lie next to Kylo and planted a kiss on his cheek. “We will figure something out. Even if it means having to spend every day of leave that I earn heading off somewhere to meet you for a secret rendezvous.”

They laid in silence for several minutes, with Kylo occasionally stroking Rey’s hair or Rey snuggling in closer to Kylo.

Finally, Kylo broke the silence. “I would marry you, you know.”

Kylo’s words shocked Rey. She had never given marriage any serious thought. Who has time for relationships when you’re stripping parts out of downed starships just to earn enough food to avoid starvation? And then she’d joined the Resistance six months ago...sure, there were certainly a few men there that had caught her eye, but helping to win the war was a much higher priority than dating had been. Of course, lingering in the background of all of these thoughts was the sense of worthlessness that crept into Rey’s mind during her darkest moods--the fact that if her parents had abandoned her on Jakku, then  _ anyone _ could leave her. Most of the time, Rey was able to chase such thoughts from her mind, but every once in awhile, when she was feeling particularly down, she’d wonder why, even if something awful had happened to her parents, why wasn’t  _ anyone _ able to get word to her about it? Why had she been left to rot on Jakku?

Rey leaned forward and kissed him. “Someday…when things aren’t so complicated.”

Kylo pulled her into him. “Someday? We  _ are _ in Arkanis City, you know.” He kissed her. “I just won a big Sabacc tournament. What would be a more fitting way to end the week than for us to hit one of the wedding chapels and get married by a Miracle Meriko impersonator?”

He was only joking. Rey felt instantly relieved that his comment wasn’t an actual marriage proposal. The truth was that she didn’t know how she’d answer him if he had actually been proposing. Everything was happening so fast, and she was scheduled to return to the Resistance base in two days. Her immediate concern was what that meant for them as a couple, if they were going to continue this relationship beyond this week. 

They laid in silence for a few minutes before Kylo spoke. “You know, there is a very good reason for us to visit one of those quickie chapels.”

“Is there?” Rey looked at him quizzically.

“Besides wedding ceremonies, you do know what else they perform at those chapels here, don’t you?”

Rey shook her head. She wasn’t exactly up on the various services offered by Arkanis City wedding chapels.

“Quickie blood tests, with full genetic analysis. We’d get the results back within an hour.” A smile formed on his face. “With my access to the Imperial archives, we could use the results to finally find out what happened to your parents. You’d finally get closure.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing and couldn’t contain her huge grin. “That would be amazing. You’d do that for me?”

“Of course, I would.” Kylo ran his fingers through her hair. “And you know, the summit finally ends at 1200 hours tomorrow. We can go tomorrow afternoon, if you’d like.”

“I’d like that. Thank you.”

  
He pulled her in for a kiss and whispered, “Now that that’s settled, let’s get you out of that dress.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again, my lovely readers! I have been overwhelmed by your support for this fic, which is just a bit of silly fluff with some smut thrown in. Your kudos and comments mean the world to me.


	10. Day 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo and Rey finally make it to the chapel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, Kylo won the First Order Sabacc tournament and gave Rey a good shagging from behind. Also, Kylo proposed to Rey....that they stop by one of the Arkanis City wedding chapels to take advantage of their quickie blood tests as a first step in finding out what happened to her family.

Rey fidgeted all through the final speech and closing address to the summit. More than once, Kylo glanced at her with a bemused look on his face. She couldn’t help it; after spending the past fifteen years wondering what had happened to her parents, she was going to be taking the first step to hopefully getting some answers today. If her family DNA had ever ended up in the database used by either the Imperial or New Republic government, the blood test results should be able to provide her with names, and possibly birth or death dates and locations, if any of those things had been recorded. Even if all she walked away with was a last name, Kylo could at least use that as a starting point for research in the Imperial archives.

He squeezed her knee, which was currently bouncing with her anxiety. “Relax,” he whispered. “This speech will be over soon, and then we can head out. The wedding chapels aren’t going anywhere.”

“I know,” Rey whispered back, trying to contain a grin. “I just can’t believe that after all of this time, I might finally find out what happened to my parents.”

The whispered exchange caught Governor Oriclup’s attention. “Did I just hear you say ‘wedding chapel’?” she asked, unable to hide her surprise.

Rey’s face grew hot with embarrassment. “Yes, but it’s not what you think.”

The Governor shook her head. “I don’t want to know, do I?”

“Probably not,” Rey replied. She couldn’t exactly tell the Governor that Kylo had known Rey’s real identity all along, and that the two of them were going to be engaging in genealogy research to try to track down her long-lost parents. 

“Just don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do, okay?” the Governor said sweetly but also with a hint of concern.

“Don’t worry, we won’t,” Rey tried to assure her.

Finally, the closing speech finished, and the resulting applause signaled that the summit had finally ended. The couple was about to slip out the door when a familiar voice interrupted them.

“Ren!” General Hux swiftly approached them, blocking their exit.

“Hux,” Kylo nodded.

“Heading out?” the red-haired man asked. 

“Yes,” Kylo looked over at Rey. “We were going to explore Arkanis City a bit with the free afternoon.”

“So you have no immediate plans then?”

“We do have immediate plans--to spend some leisure time experiencing the city before Rey departs to return to Birren,” Kylo scowled.

“But you do have time to join me for lunch now, I assume?” Hux turned to address Rey. “We haven’t really gotten a chance to know each other, beyond the conversations that we had the first day of the summit. Given how you have so...captivated Ren here, I thought that we could use the occasion to get to know each other better.” 

Rey placed her hand on Kylo’s arm, trying to assure him. “We can have lunch with you. Did you have a place in mind?”

“Actually, yes, I do. I made reservations for three at a nice cafe a few blocks from here. I hope that wasn’t too presumptuous of me?”

“That sounds lovely,” Rey squeezed Kylo’s arm. 

Kylo muttered something unintelligible. Rey could feel the tension emanating from him and grabbed his hand in an effort to calm him.

“Shall we, then?” Hux gestured towards the door.

Allowing Hux to take the lead, Rey followed Hux, as she nearly dragged a reluctant Kylo behind her.

 

***

 

The cafe  _ was _ lovely, and even Hux was being pleasant, for the most part. The trio sat at a table outdoors, enjoying the sunshine that was typically absent on the oft-rainy Arkanis. Because the cafe menu was heavily weighted with local delicacies, Rey and Kylo allowed Hux to order for everyone. As the threesome conversed, a waiter periodically brought out small plates of various house specialties so that each of them could try a variety of dishes. Hux had each dish paired with a varietal of wine to further complement the experience.

“So,” Hux started after everyone had had a chance to sample some of the food, leaning back in his chair slightly.

“So,” Kylo replied warily.

“I will admit that my reason for inviting you both here isn’t an entirely social endeavor. Rey,” Hux nodded in her direction. “What has Ren told you about his position with the First Order?”

Rey thought quickly. Obviously, she knew the real answer, but the real answer was not the correct answer for these circumstances. “Only that he works on special assignments. I know that he can’t tell me much more than that.” 

“That’s one way of putting it,” Hux smiled. “Did he tell you that he’s also quite high-ranking within the Order? That he reports directly to the Supreme Leader himself?”

Rey glanced at Kylo, but only for a second. However, that second was enough to give away her answer.

“So, yes, I see that he has told you,” Hux intoned smugly.

“What do you want, Armitage?” Kylo growled.

“I was simply about to let Rey know that the Supreme Leader has a personal interest in you, and therefore, by extension, he has a personal interest in anyone with whom you have formed an...intimate relationship.”

Rey and Kylo exchanged glances. Rey had a bad feeling about this.

Hux continued, addressing Rey. “I would like to extend an invitation to you to tour the Finalizer and even meet the Supreme Leader.” He smiled wickedly. “Won’t that be exciting? As a political aide from a planet like Birren, I don’t know when you might have this sort of chance again.”

Rey tried her best to hide her horror. Had Hux actually figured out who she was? Or was Rey just being paranoid? She faked a smile. “I would be honored.”

“Oh good.” Hux leaned forward. “When are you leaving?”

Rey looked to Kylo for guidance with her answer. Hopefully, they could avoid this whole thing. The last thing that either she or Kylo needed was for her to continue carrying out this charade on a First Order star destroyer, especially in front of the head of the First Order.

“She’s leaving tomorrow afternoon,” Kylo said flatly. “I assume that there won’t be time to arrange this...visit before she departs?”

“Nonsense! The Supreme Leader has informed me that he’d like to make this meeting a priority. And it just so happens that he has an opening in his schedule tomorrow morning.” Hux was clearly enjoying this. Rey looked down at the half-eaten food on her plate, losing what remained of her appetite.

“There’s no need to make this priority,” Kylo glared at Hux. “Armitage, do not drag her into the personal disagreements between you and me.”

Hux expressed mock disappointment. “I am doing nothing of the sort. I can’t understand why you wouldn’t consider it to be an honor for Rey here to meet the Supreme Leader. This is an incredible opportunity for her.” He leaned forward towards Kylo. “You know, he was very disappointed that he missed the chance to meet the last woman that you fancied--that girl from the desert.”

Kylo stood up and grabbed Rey’s arm. “Rey, we’re leaving.”

Hux grinned and placed a finger to his temple. “I never got the chance to meet her myself, but I hear she was very pretty.”

Following Kylo’s lead, Rey stood up.

“We only had some blurry surveillance footage, but my gosh, she even looked a bit like you. Rey.”

Hux was  _ threatening _ her. Really, he was threatening both Kylo and her. She needed to get out of here. They  _ both _ needed to get out of here.

Kylo threw a stack of credits on the table. “I don’t like your insinuations, Armitage. And I really don’t like you threatening Rey. She has done nothing wrong. Your complaint is with me.”

As Kylo led her out of the cafe, fists balled at his side, Rey looked back to see Hux leaning back in his chair, his hands folded behind his head. The look on his face could not have possibly been more smug.

 

***

 

“What now?” Rey asked.

“Do you have a commlink with you?  We should have Governor Oriclup arrange transport to get you out of here as quickly as possible.”

Rey looked up at Kylo, biting her lip.

Kylo’s frown softened slightly. “What?”

“Do you think we might still have time for those blood tests? I mean, they’re only supposed to take an hour.”

Kylo shrugged and relaxed slightly. “Sure, I can’t imagine that the Supreme Leader is going to try to send for you in the next hour or so. Waiting one more hour isn’t going to make a difference.” A slight smile appeared on his face. “Besides, I know how much this means to you. And who knows when I’ll ever be able to get you into a wedding chapel again.” He kissed her forehead.

They held hands as they walked back towards the direction of the hotel. As they passed one particularly gaudy-looking building advertising itself as a wedding chapel, Rey’s face lit up. “How about this one?”

“I hadn’t figured you as the type for pink neon hearts. It’s a bit on the tacky side.”

Rey grabbed his hand and started to drag him towards the entrance. “Of course, it’s tacky! This is Arkanis City! If I’m going to get pretend-married here, I want the full experience!”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes!” Rey gestured towards a sign in the window. “They even have a Miracle Meriko impersonator!”

“Well, that’s all you needed to say,” Kylo chided, following her into the chapel.

The couple was greeted by a middle-aged woman wearing garish makeup with an elaborate blond hairstyle. “Welcome to the Chapel of Love!” she greeted them in a nasally voice. “My name is Drina, and I will be helping you along on your matrimonial journey today.”

“Hi,” Rey stated nervously.

Drina stepped back and assessed Rey and Kylo. “Aren’t you the stunning couple? You’re going to make someone’s mother very happy with some gorgeous grandbabies someday!” She leaned forward and lowered her voice, “Of course, if there’s one already on the way, that’s none of my business.”

Rey laughed and blushed. “We’ve only been together for a week.”

Drina waved her hand. “Oh, we get couples in here all of the time who haven’t known each other for that long even.”

“Really?” Rey asked, trying to not sound overly sarcastic.

Drina raised an eyebrow at her. “Sometimes you just need to go with your feelings and know that everything will work out the way that it’s supposed to in the end.” She looked the couple up and down again. “We’ll start with the blood draw. You’ll have a little bit of time to kill after that before we get your results in. Follow me.”

The blonde woman led Rey and Kylo to a small room that was similar to a medical exam room with two chairs against one of the walls. Rey looked around, surprised that a tacky wedding chapel like this one apparently had semi-professional medical facilities. 

Handing each of them a small datapad, Drina explained, “You’ll each need to fill out the forms on those datapads. A technician will be in shortly to perform the blood draws.” She then left the room, leaving Rey and Kylo alone.

“So…” Kylo said.

“So…” Rey repeated.

“Let’s fill these out, I guess?”

“Sure, I guess.”

The two buried their noses in their datapads. They hadn’t yet finished entering their personal information when a phlebotomist droid entered the room and approached Kylo.

“Please extend your arm,” intoned the droid’s mechanical voice.

Kylo rolled up his sleeve and offered up his arm to the droid. The droid applied a tourniquet, inserted a needle into a vein in the crook of Kylo’s arm, drew a vial of blood, and placed that vial into a storage compartment within the droid’s body.

“Thank you,” recited the droid. “Next arm.”

The droid repeated the process with Rey.

“Thank you.” A printout emerged from a slot on the droid’s chest. “Please take this to the front desk to await your results.”

Rey and Kylo followed the droid out of the exam room and turned down the hall to the reception area. The same blonde woman who greeted them was seated behind the front desk.

“Hi again,” Kylo greeted here. “Here’s the printout that the medical droid gave us.” He handed her the piece of paper.

Drina punched a few things into a datapad. “Okay, you’re all set.” She handed them a small, square buzzer. “Results should be ready in about four hours. We’ll go over them with you, and then we’ll perform the ceremony.”

“Four hours?” Rey blurted out. “I thought that it was only supposed to take one hour. That’s what your sign out front says.”

Drina chuckled. “Such a rush! Being married a few hours later won’t make any difference in the overall scheme of things.” She winked at Rey. “The one-hour wait time is for basic genetic compatibility--making sure that there aren’t any ticking time bombs in your DNA if you choose to have children. You’ve ordered the full genealogy panel, which takes a bit longer to process.”

Kylo and Rey exchanged glances. 

“If you want to wait relatively close by, the buzzer will alert you when your results are ready. There are a few restaurants and casinos nearby if you’re looking to kill time.” She handed them a small card. “There’s a nice bar around the corner. We have a preferred customer arrangement with them. If you show them this card, they’ll give you 20% off your tab.”

Kylo nodded and accepted the card. “We’ll stay nearby.”

 

***

 

The pair settled into a booth at the bar around the corner from the Chapel of Love and ordered drinks.

Rey retrieved the commlink from her bag and punched in Governor Oriclup’s access code then placed the commlink on the table. 

“Hello? Rey?” the Governor answered.

“Governor! I’m so sorry to bother you about this, but I’ve run into a bit of trouble. I need your help.” Rey’s pleaded.

The Governor laughed. “What’s going on? You didn’t go and marry that guy from the First Order on a whim or anything, did you?”

Kylo rolled his eyes and stated, “I can hear you.”

“Where are you, anyway? There’s a lot of background noise.”

“We’re in a bar,” Rey answered. “Long story,” she added.

“What do you need my help with?” the Governor asked.

“Um, we need to get me out of here as soon as possible.”

“You’re scheduled to leave tomorrow afternoon. Why do you need to get out earlier than that? What happened?”

Kylo leaned forward and spoke to the commlink. “We think that General Hux has become suspicious of Rey’s identity. He more or less threatened to bring her to the Supreme Leader.”

“What? I’m confused. Aren’t you with the First Order?”

“I am. I was. I’m not sure now. But you have to get Rey out of here. If she is brought to the Supreme Leader, it would be very bad.”

“The Supreme Leader? Rey, what’s going on? And why does Kylo know who you are?”

Rey leaned forward and spoke to the comm. “About that…  We’ve met before. A few months ago, I was captured  _ very _ briefly by the First Order. That’s how Kylo and I knew each other--he was sort of blamed for my escape. Obviously, he didn’t blow my cover here or anything, but I guess Hux dug up some archival blurry video footage of me from when I was a prisoner and put two and two together.”

Rey heard the Governor sigh. “This is a mess. The earliest I can get you out is likely going to be very early in the morning. I called our transport just to verify our departure, and there’s a big atmospheric storm rolling in right now. No ships will be able to enter or leave until that runs its course. The good news, I guess, is that that means that the First Order won’t be able to get in either.”

“Thank you,” Rey replied.

“Kylo,” the Governor added. “Do you need us to extract you, too? There should be room in our shuttle.”

Kylo looked over at Rey and then spoke methodically. “If that’s possible, yes. I’ll take transport to Birren and figure things out from there.”

“We’ll figure on an early morning departure then. Don’t stay up too late tonight. I’ll let you know if the plan changes at all.” The Governor added, “Please be careful.”

 

***

 

Four hours and several later drinks, a somewhat intoxicated Rey and Kylo still sat in the booth at the bar. Rey slumped against Kylo with his arm wrapped over her shoulder.

“Shouldn’t we be hearing from the Chapel?” Rey asked, her words slightly slurred.

“Any minute now,” Kylo sighed.

“So you’re really leaving the First Order?”

“I kind of have to. If they suspect me of sleeping with you for the past week without turning you over...nothing good will come of me returning. I’m going to be branded a traitor no matter what, so I might as well actually do something traitorous, right?”

Rey hugged him, not sure of what to say. No one had ever done anything like this before because of her. She dreaded thinking of how her heart would break when they finally parted to go their separate ways. She knew that it was hopeless, but more than anything, she wanted him to stay with her. “You can come back with me. It might be a little uncomfortable for a little while, but isn’t that far better than spending the rest of your life on the run?”

Kylo squeezed her closely to him. “You know that I can’t go back there.” He shifted so that he was facing her. “Why don’t you come with me? I knew that I couldn’t ask you to come back to the First Order with me, but now that I’m not going back…”

“Just take off, just like that?”

“Why not? We can disappear to some out-the-way place together. I can finally give you the training in the Force that my uncle refused to. It still pains me that you’ve got so much potential and no knowledge of how to use it.”

Rey perked up. “I hadn’t thought of that as an option.” A second later, she frowned. “But I don’t think that I can just leave everyone behind like that. For the first time in my life--”

The buzzer that sat on the table began to sound its alarm, interrupting Rey. She quickly picked it up and pressed a button to silence it. 

“Well, I guess it’s time…” she rose from her seat, somewhat unsteady on her feet. Glancing at the holocron on the wall of the bar, she noted that it was already 1900 hours--they had been waiting much longer than she had thought. Rey offered her hand to Kylo, who took it and led her out the door of the bar.

 

***

 

When returned Rey and Kylo to the waiting area of the wedding chapel, they were met by Drina again, who apparently was the only employee dealing with customer service that day. Gone was the warmth that Drina had greeted them with earlier; her demeanor had turned icy during the four hours that the couple had spent drinking and waiting in the bar.

“If you’ll come with me, I have your test results,” Drina gestured for Rey and Kylo to follow her. She led them down a hallway and into a small office where she sat down and the motioned for them to sit in the seats across from her.

Drina eyed them suspiciously for a minute before speaking. “I don’t know how you managed to fake out our blood tests, or what sort of con you two are pulling, but I suppose I need to still read the results to you.”

Rey and Kylo exchanged shocked glances. 

“I’m not sure I understand what you mean,” stated Kylo.

  
Drina snorted. “What sort of a fool do you take me for? I’m really supposed to believe that a descendant from the Skywalker family is marrying a descendent of Obi-Wan Kenobi?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The wedding happens next chapter, I promise!
> 
> I can't stop thanking you, lovely readers, for your amazing response to this fic. I am truly humbled!


	11. Day 5 (Night)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wedding is finally here, folks!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, Rey and Kylo were threatened by Hux and stopped off at a wedding chapel to try to get some answers to Rey's ancestry. As we left off, a somewhat intoxicated Rey and Kylo were read the shocking results by the customer service rep at the chapel.

Rey and Kylo exchanged surprised glances. Drina, whose attention was fixed on the datapad in her hands, didn’t seem to notice. 

“Kenobi…” Rey whispered in disbelief.

Drina looked up from her datapad. “What’s really going on here? I’m supposed to believe that Darth Vader’s grandson is eloping with Obi-Wan Kenobi’s granddaughter? Is this a joke to you both? We take the services that we provide here very seriously…”

Rey interrupted Drina. “After we walk out this door, you will have no memory that we were here.”

Drina frowned.

Rey repeated, “After we walk out this door, you will have no memory that we were here.”

Mechanically, Drina droned back to Rey, “After you walk out this door, I will have no memory that you were here.”

Rey stood up from her chair and turned to leave. Kylo grabbed her arm. “Wait.”

She shot him a confused look.

“Since we’re already here and have filled out all of the documentation, what do you think about getting married?”

“What?!?” Rey couldn’t hide her shock.

Kylo slid down out of his chair and got down on one knee. “Rey,” he paused for a second, “...Kenobi, will you marry me?”

“I--  I--”

Kylo continued. “Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen when we leave here. But what I do know is that if I have any choice in the matter, I want to spend the rest of my life at your side. Rey, I love you.”

Unable to hide her emotions, tears began to run down Rey’s face. “Yes! I will marry you. I feel the same way.”

Drina sighed, watching the pair skeptically. “You know, usually, the man proposes before he comes in here with his bride-to-be.”

Ignoring Drina, Kylo stood up to his full height and took Rey into his arms. He leaned over and kissed Rey fully and deeply on the mouth. Rey responded by throwing her arms around his neck to pull him even closer to her.

Drina cleared her throat. “I suppose we need to add a pair of rings to your tab?”

“Yes,” Rey and Kylo responded in unison.

Without a word, Drina stood up and walked over to a cabinet on a wall, where she removed a large case with a glass top. She set it on her desk and cleared her throat again. “These are the house rings that we currently have available. They’re arranged from least to most expensive, if cost is an issue.”

Quickly, Rey and Kylo agreed on a pair of simple, platinum wedding bands. 

Drina noted their choices and punched a few entries into her datapad. “Are we ready for the ceremony now?”

Rey and Kylo nodded then followed Drina into a small chapel where a witness droid and a Miracle Meriko impersonator stood waiting for them to begin the wedding ceremony.

 

***

 

The wedding ceremony of Kylo Ren and Rey Kenobi was itself uneventful. The couple recited their vows, pledging their love and loyalty to each other and exchanged rings. In particular, Rey found the part where they pledged their love to each other a bit absurd, given that they only first done so a few moments earlier. She did note, however, that when Kylo kissed her for the first time as her husband, it felt different from all of the other times that he had kissed her this week. This kiss had an intense affection and devotion that had been absent from all of their previous embraces, where they were practically devouring and pawing each other with urgency.

After all of the build up, the ceremony itself only took about 15 minutes. The newlyweds were sent on their way with a datacard containing the genealogy report from their bloodwork, a marriage certificate, and a bottle of sparkling wine that was included in their wedding package. On their way out of the chapel, Rey made sure to reinforce with Drina that she never saw the couple. Rey and Kylo then opted to head straight back to their hotel room to celebrate their wedding night and what would possibly be their last night together for some time.

Rey squealed as Kylo scooped her up into his arms as they exited the turbolift. She placed her arms around his neck for support and looked dreamily into his eyes.

“I’m not sure if I should bring this up right now, but this isn’t the first time that I’ve carried you like this,” Kylo mused as he fumbled for the keycard to open their hotel room door.

“Really?”

“Mmmm-hmmm. In the forest on Takodana...when I put you to sleep with the Force, I caught you in my arms and carried you the entire way back to my shuttle.”

Rey frowned. “I don’t remember that at all. I mean, I remember you putting me to sleep--you scared me half to death at the time.”

“I didn’t really have a choice. You  _ were _ shooting at me, if you’ll recall,” Kylo grinned, running the keycard through the cardreader. As the door lock unlatched, he booted it open with his foot.

“I can’t decide if all of that was romantic or creepy.”

“Probably a little of both?” Kylo deposited Rey gently onto the bed onto her back. “I must have done something right, though. After all, you married me.” He climbed onto the bed next to her and began kissing her neck. “You know,” he added between kisses, “I knew even back then that I wanted you.”

“I didn’t. Not until you took of your mask, anyway. And even then, I told myself that I didn’t.”

“I know.”

“You saw that in my head, too?”

“No, I didn’t even need to. It was written all over your face.” Kylo smirked--it was the same triumphant smirk that Rey recalled seeing on his face when he had first unmasked for her, and she had been unable to hide her reaction.

Rey dug her fingers into Kylo’s hair as he pressed his lips to her collarbone, lightly nibbling the skin there. “Are we going to talk about my parents, or, I guess grandparents at all now?” she asked.

Kylo picked his head up and looked at her. “Later. I promise. We’ve got a wedding night to celebrate right now.” With that, he hooked his thumbs under the waistband of her pants, and with the help of Rey’s wriggling, pulled them down to her ankles, at which point, Rey kicked them to the floor. Her underwear soon followed.

Wasting no time, Kylo scooted down the bed and parted her folds with two fingers and began to slowly lap at Rey’s clit. Rey shuddered at the sensation and grasped at his hair. He increased both his pace and the pressure that he applied, occasionally working in a bit of nipping and sucking. 

He briefly stopped, lifting his head to make eye contact with her. “I’m going to make you come so many times tonight, Rey.”

Rey simply moaned in response.

Kylo returned his attention to Rey’s bundle of nerves, alternating swirls of his tongue with his lapping motion. Rey began to feel the pressure that she had felt so many times these past few days building within her. As the intensity increased, her back began to involuntarily arch off the bed, and as Kylo’s tongue gave an extra-long stroke, her hips bucked. Kylo simply responded by draping his forearm across her lower belly, helping to hold her in place. To further her along even more quickly, he slid two fingers inside of her, crooking them to hit the spot that would send Rey over the edge. She began to feel light-headed as the blood rushed from her head to her core, giving everything a fuzzy edge. She clutched at Kylo’s hair, the bedsheets--anything that she could grip onto. All at once, everything in Rey’s body clenched as she reached her climax, which with Kylo’s guidance rolled on through several waves before leaving Rey’s body in a jelly-like state. 

Rey laid on her back panting, waiting for the stars in her vision to retreat. 

“Did that work okay for you?” Kylo asked, smiling.

“Mmmm-hmmm,” Rey murmured contentedly.

Kylo withdrew and moved up so that he laid alongside her. Pulling him towards her, Rey kissed him hard on the mouth, tasting herself in the process. She slipped one hand down his pants and grabbed onto his cock, stroking it a few times. Leaning forward, she pushed his waistband down over his hips and started to crawl towards him.

“Your turn now,” she said with a grin.

“Nope, not yet. Later maybe, but right now, I want to fuck you,” Kylo stated with a devilish look on his face. He grabbed Rey by the torso and flipped her over onto her stomach, then grabbed her hips and pulled her up so that she was on her knees and forearms. He unzipped his trousers and slid out of them.

“This position seemed to work pretty well for you last night.”

Rey flipped her hair and glanced back at him over her shoulder. “I think it worked pretty well for both of us.” 

She felt him hold her hips in place as he positioned himself. Slowly, he then slid into her and began to thrust. Rey moaned in pleasure. The feeling of being filled by him would never get old, no matter how many times they did this, she thought. Kylo’s thrusts increased in speed and intensity; the only audible noises in the room were their moans and the sound of skin slapping against skin. One of Kylo’s hands slid from her hips to begin fingering Rey’s clit. She could tell quickly that the dual sensation of the internal and external stimulation would soon be sending her over the edge.

As her walls began to clench around his cock, Kylo groaned as she drove him closer to his own climax. His deep, hard thrusts turned to shorter, faster strokes. Rey soon began to spasm around him, and in response he grabbed her hips firmly, finishing with several long and deep thrusts. 

Once he had completely emptied himself into her, he withdrew and collapsed on the bed next to her. Rey immediately snuggled into his arms.

They laid together quietly for several minutes. Rey finally spoke. “Where will we go?”

“What do you mean?” Kylo asked.

“I mean, do you have a plan? For when we leave tomorrow...going wherever it is that we’re going to go?”

“I thought that you were going back to the Resistance.”

“I am, temporarily.” Rey frowned. “I can’t just disappear on them.” She turned her head to make eye contact with Kylo. “And I’ll respect your wishes, whatever they are, but I’d like to tell them that I’ll be with you--that you’ve left the First Order.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. They’ll never believe that you’re going with me voluntarily at best, and at worst, they’ll send someone to follow you.”

“Can I at least tell them that you’re no longer with the First Order? So that you’re not regarded as an enemy anymore?”

Kylo sighed. “I’ll think about it.” 

Rey was about to plead with him again when she spotted the bottle of sparkling wine that was still sitting on the bedside table. “You know, I have an idea of what we should do now. Celebrate!” She popped the cork and took a swig directly from the bottle.

Smiling, Kylo took the bottle from her. “Yes, that is absolutely what we should do right now.” He took his own swig from the bottle.

Giggling, Rey took the bottle back, placing it on the night table. She shoved him onto his back on the bed and climbed on top of him, straddling him. “I know what else I want to do right now, too,” she smirked before pressing her lips to his neck.

 

***

The first thing that Rey was conscious of when she awoke was pain. She hurt...all over. Her head throbbed, her throat was raw, her stomach hurt, and she felt a painful soreness between her legs. Kriff, how many times had they actually done it last night? She rubbed her forehead, wishing that there was some way to just will her headache away, among other things.

Trying to focus her eyes, Rey zeroed in on the clock on the bedside table of her hotel room. The clock told her that it was 0400 standard hours. So, in theory, she had a few more hours to sleep--unless, of course, the Governor had been able to arrange for transport at an earlier hour. Wondering if there was any update from the Governor, she slapped the bedside table, feeling around for the personal datapad that she was she she had left there. After a few seconds of fumbling, her fingers touched something that she thought was the datapad and promptly accidentally knocked it onto the floor. She groaned, straining and stretching to retrieve the datapad. Upon its successful retrieval, Rey flipped on the device and checked her messages.

Oh no…  She had about a dozen messages, most of which were either from General Organa or Governor Oriclup. The timestamps of the messages showed a trend of increasing concern from both the General and the Governor, which wasn’t surprising given the situation with Hux and the fact that Rey had been so consumed with Kylo that she’d failed to answer her calls (again) the previous evening. Quickly, she fired off a message to each of them, letting both know that she was okay, that she had simply had a “late night” and apologized for not responding sooner, and that she would be ready to leave as soon as her transport was ready.

Careful to not disturb Kylo, who was still sound asleep in the bed next to her, Rey quietly got out of the bed, retrieved Kylo’s discarded tunic from the floor, and slipped it over her head to cover her still-naked body. She padded over to the ‘fresher, where she poured herself a glass of water. She took a sip and grimaced; her stomach felt like it was being twisted by a wrench, and she suddenly had doubts that she’d be able to successfully keep the water down without vomiting, even if rehydration was exactly what her body needed right now.

Rey’s eyes traveled to her left hand, where the simple platinum band now adorned her ring finger. She was still in somewhat of a state of disbelief that THAT actually happened. When this mission had started, never in a million years did she guess that she would end up  _ married _ by the end of it. As quietly as possible, she padded back to the bed and snuggled back up to her husband--her HUSBAND--it would take a while to get used to calling him that.

Rey had been lost in her thoughts when she’d felt Kylo’s breath, immediately followed by him wrapping his arms around her from behind. She could feel that he was already somewhat aroused at her back as he pulled her to his body.

He kissed her neck. “You’ve put clothes back on?” he murmured.

“The room is cold once you get out of the bed,” she turned around and smiled at him, visually taking in his toned body and wondering when she’d be able to see him again like this, given that they’d likely be parting ways, at least temporarily, once they reached Birren. She put the fleeting thought out of her mind, reminding herself to just enjoy the moment.

“What were you doing out of bed? And how are you feeling, by the way?” he asked.

Rey laughed. “I just got up for a glass of water. And physically? I feel like bantha fodder.”

“If it’s any consolation, I feel the same way.” He kissed the top of her head.

A sharp knock at the hotel room door startled the newlyweds.

“Just ignore it. I’m sure it can wait” Kylo playfully tugged at the hem of her tunic, lifting it up over her torso and tossing it onto the floor. His hand went immediately to her bare breast.

The knock came again, this time louder and followed by a muffled voice shouting, “Rey? Rey! Open the door!”

“Ugh,” Rey groaned. “That has to be the Governor.” She playfully swatted his hand away from her breast. “I’ll be there in a minute!” she called out.

“I guess the transport must be ready. Fun time is over for now.” He sighed, pouting slightly.

The pounding at the door started again. “REY!”

Rey swung her legs over the side of the bed, and surveyed the floor, trying to figure out where her husband had tossed his tunic a moment ago.

With a jolt, she looked up as she heard a beeping sound at the door and then a click. Someone with a keycard and had just opened their hotel room door. Rey scrambled to cover her naked body with the sheet as the door swung open, and the person who had been shouting on the outside of the door flipped on the light and entered the room.

Rey looked over at the man in bed next to her, trying to read his reaction. He muttered two simple words:

“Oh shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, we're almost there! Just one chapter left! 
> 
> I can't thank you all enough for all of your support--comments and kudos--with this fic! I had a blast writing it, and it's been even more of a blast to read your reactions!


	12. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And we finally find out who was at the hotel room door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When we last left Kylo and Rey, they had just gotten married and engaged in the expected wedding night activities. However, their bliss was interrupted when an as-yet unidentified person with a keycard to their room barged in on them...

Although rarely caught off-guard by anything in life, General Leia Organa was not prepared for the storm of emotions that hit her when she opened the door to her protégée _ ’s _ hotel room and saw a seemingly naked Rey sitting in bed with her son. Anger, fear, regret and a certain sadness all flooded her. The next thing that hit Leia was the smell; the room reeked of sex. Leia was well-acquainted with this particular scent from the early days in her marriage when she and Han were running around the galaxy in the Millennium Falcon and spending time in close quarters--the same time period that inadvertently produced one of the two people now staring at her from the hotel room bed with a shell-shocked look on his face. 

For a moment, Leia simply stood in the entrance to the room, then took several steps forward to stand at the foot of the bed. Her gaze narrowed as she glanced from her son to Rey and back to her son again. As she’d entered the room, Leia had seen movement out of the corner of her eye indicating that Rey had scrambled into bed, quickly pulling a sheet around her. In fact, now both Rey and Ben now sat in bed with sheets drawn tightly around them and wearing petrified looks on their faces. Even though logic told Leia that there was no threat here, instinctively, her hand moved to the blaster that was holstered at her hip. The motion did not escape the attention of either member of the couple, who exchanged horrified glances with each other.

Leia pursed her lips, cleared her throat, and then spoke with a fake calmness that had come from years of practice. “The storm has just cleared, enabling us to land. The transport is here and ready to leave. I am going to turn around. If you are coming with me, you have five minutes to put on some clothing and gather your belongings, and then we are leaving.”

True to her word, Leia turned her back to the couple and glanced at the holocron on her wrist. She immediately heard scrambling behind her.

“Here’s your tunic,” a female voice whispered behind Leia.

“Thanks,” came the reply from a male voice--Leia’s son, Ben.

More shuffling and rustling filled Leia’s ears. These were followed by sounds of drawers being pulled open, clothing pulled out and shoved into a bag, and those drawers being slammed shut again. Leia checked her holocron. They had two minutes left. She heard an inaudible exchange of whispers behind her, followed shortly by the young woman addressing her.

“General Organa?”

“Yes, Rey?” Leia fought the urge to turn around.

“I probably shouldn’t ask this, but do we have time to stop by Kylo’s room to pick up his things?”

Kylo. Leia’s fists clenched in reaction to hearing the name that her son had given himself. And he apparently even had Rey calling him by that name. She fought the urge to launch into a tirade and instead used a firm voice to simply say, “No.”

Leia heard Rey clear her throat, then the younger woman stated, “General Organa? I think we’re ready to leave now.”

Turning around, Leia assessed the couple. They were holding hands, and Rey now had her travel bag slung over her shoulder. Ben quickly looked at the floor, rather than make eye contact with his mother. Without a word, Leia turned and headed back out the door with Rey and Ben following closely behind. 

 

***

 

To Rey’s chagrin, General Organa had not come alone. The General had brought Poe Dameron along as her pilot for this extraction mission, and he was waiting in the hotel hallway for the group to emerge. Poe’s eyes grew wide, and he failed to hide a smirk as he watched the trio emerge.

“Hi, I’m Poe, General Organa’s pilot,” he offered his hand to Kylo.

Kylo raised his head and glared at Poe. “I know who you are.” He then dropped his gaze back to the floor and mumbled, “I’m Ben.”

Poe continued, “I’m not a fan of the First Order, but if Rey sees something in you, you must not be all bad. Trust me, there have been plenty of guys in the Resistance that have wanted to score with her, and she’s refused them all. On the other hand, she can be a bit impulsive at times…”

“Thanks,” Rey mumbled sarcastically.

General Organa rolled her eyes and sighed. “We’ll have plenty of time to get caught up once we get to the ship, assuming that we actually make it to the ship. C’mon,” she motioned with her arm for the others to follow her and headed to the end of the hallway. Opening the door to the stairwell, she explained, “We should take the stairs to try to be as discreet as possible.”

The foursome clomped down dozens of stories of stairs. The silence was only broken by the occasional wisecrack from Poe. Finally, they reached the ground floor, and General Organa led everyone out a through a side door that was out of the view of the hotel reception area. As they exited, it did not escape Rey’s attention that a small platoon of Stormtroopers was entering the hotel through the main doors. 

“Heads down, and keep moving,” General Organa instructed in a loud whisper. 

 

***

 

Rey inadvertently found herself holding her breath for most of the walk to the spaceport, where a non-descript transport ship was waiting for the group. She only found herself breathing normally once everyone was safely on board. A disturbing thought hit her as she buckled herself into one of the passenger seats next to Kylo.

“General Organa? What’s going to happen to Governor Oriclup? Shouldn’t we be extracting her, too?”

The General shook her head. “She’s already been extracted by her own team. Although I don’t know what this little incident will end up costing Birren down the line.”

Feeling horribly guilty, Rey stared at the floor. She heard the transports engines begin to fire and then felt the familiar pressing sensation as gravity pushed her into her seat as Poe lifted the ship off the ground and away from Arkanis City. 

 

***

 

With the transport safely in hyperspace en route to whatever their destination was, Poe set the ship’s navigation on autopilot and joined the trio seated in silence in the passenger area. Rey and Ben sat on one bench, with Ben’s arm around Rey, holding her to his side. They mostly avoided making eye contact with Leia, who maintained her hard stare on the couple sitting across from her.

Poe sat down next to Leia and looked from Rey to Ben and back to Rey again. “So...you two…? You’re a thing now?”

Ben cleared his throat. “Yes, if that’s what you want to call it.” Instinctively, he pulled Rey closer to him.

Poe grinned and shook his head. “Man, wow. When I first heard that Rey was shacking up with someone from the First Order, I figured it was just a sex thing. I mean, Rey is practically as pure as the driven snow and all that, but still....”

“It’s not just a sex thing,” Rey mumbled. Mindlessly, she grabbed Ben’s hand and intertwined her fingers with his.

“Yeah, I guess not.” Poe looked over at Ben and gave a low whistle. “And you’re leaving the First Order for her? That’s why we’re extracting you, too, right?”

“Honestly, I had no idea that the Resistance would be extracting us. When I asked Rey to ask for assistance in getting me out, I assumed we’d just be leaving on her transport to Birren.” Ben stared at the floor as he spoke.  “Anyway, I’m leaving the First Order because my continued presence there would put both Rey and myself in continued danger. The Supreme Leader would like nothing more than to get his hands on her, and I can’t allow that to happen. That makes me...a traitor.”   


At Ben’s comment, Leia’s lifted her head. “We’re extracting you both because regardless of the things that you’ve done, you’re still my son.”

“Son? You’re  _ that _ Ben? Oh shit,” Poe stifled a laugh. Leia glared at him. 

Ignoring his commanding officer’s reaction, Poe continued, “You’re not only the General’s son, you disappeared a few years ago and joined the First Order,  _ and _ you’re banging Rey?” He leaned back in his seat and added sarcastically, “Wow, so this situation isn’t awkward at all.”

“Not at all,” Ben muttered.

Poe then turned at Leia and apologetically stammered, “General Organa, I mean no disrespect, but I didn’t know--”

Suddenly Leia shot out of her seat and grabbed her son’s left hand. “What the hell is this on your finger?!?” She then grabbed Rey’s hand, glanced at the ring, and sunk back into her seat. “What the kriff did you two do?!?”

Rey looked over at Ben and then leaned forward, taking the General’s hand between her own hands. “General, I know that all of this is coming as a huge shock, but yes, we did get married yesterday.”

The General jumped of her seat again, showing cracks in her stoic facade for the first time since encountering Rey and Ben back in their hotel room. She stepped forward to stand in front of the couple, the General’s petite figure looming over them.

“What the hell were you two thinking?!?” the General spat out.

Rey flinched. She couldn’t recall ever having seen the General angry like this before. Looking up, she spoke quietly, “Originally, we were just supposed to be pretending to get married, so that we could get genetic tests. Ky--, I mean Ben, was going to use the Imperial archives to help me track down what happened to my family.”

“You didn’t have to get married to do that!” the General flung her arms out and shook her head.

Rey glanced over at Kylo, who continued to stare at the floor. She looked back up at the General and responded, “No, we didn’t have to. But we love each other and didn’t know when we’d see each other again. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“And how about now? Does it still seem like a good idea?”

Ben and Rey looked at each other. For the first time since boarding the transport ship, Ben looked up and made eye contact with his mother. “It still does to me. I want to be with Rey. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. Really terrible mistakes that I am very, very sorry for. And I know that you know that. Marrying Rey was not one of them.”

“Are you pregnant?!?”  The General stated bluntly, her gaze narrowing and focusing on Rey.

“No!” Rey blurted out. “At least, I don’t think so.”

Poe cleared his throat and stood up. “I think I hear something beeping in the cockpit. I’m going to go check on that.” 

He nodded at Rey as he left the room.

Regaining her composure, Leia sat back down again and quietly asked, “How long has this been going on? Have you two somehow been meeting up behind the my back?”

Rey shook her head. “Of course not! Everything started this week. It all happened very fast.”

Leia snorted. “I’ll say.”

Tiring of the General’s accusations, Rey blurted out, “At least I made a commitment to him. Did you ever even look for him after the attack on Luke’s temple? You know, where your son was abducted from?”

The General gasped. “I spent several years of my life where my main focus was looking for him!” She looked over at Ben. “Did you think that just because we couldn’t find you, we weren’t looking? The only reason we even knew that you were alive and knew to keep looking was that I never lost the feeling of your Force signature, even though it was extremely faint at times. Ben, I  _ never _ stopped looking for you.”

Rey watched as Ben moved from her side to sit next to The General with very apparent tears in his eyes.

“I didn’t know,” Ben stated quietly, as he fought back tears. He continued, “Mother, there has not been a day of my life in these past months where I haven’t regretted what I did on Starkiller and wished that I could take it back. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I did want you to know I regret my actions. And I do ask that you please not hold the things that I’ve done against Rey. She’s done nothing wrong.”

Leia stared at him, tears forming in her own eyes. Hesitantly, she wrapped her arms around her much larger son, pulling him into an embrace. The scene made Rey feel intensely uncomfortable to observe such an intimate moment. 

Following Poe’s lead, Rey stood up. “I think I’m going to go see if Poe needs any help with whatever that beeping thing was in the cockpit.”

Ben grabbed her hand and looked up at her. “No, please stay,” he pleaded.

“I--” Rey started.

Leia looked up at Rey, appearing more vulnerable than Rey could ever recall having seen her. “It’s okay.”

Cautiously, without taking her eyes from her husband and mother-in-law, Rey sat back down.

At that moment, Poe poked his head back into the passenger compartment. “We’ll be coming out of hyperspace fairly soon. We should be back on the ground in less than an hour.”

“Thank you, Poe,” Leia nodded.

Ben gave his mother another hug and then moved to sit back next to Rey again. “Where are we going, exactly? We can’t possibly have reached Birren yet.”

The General quickly re-adopted a professional air and stated. “You’re correct. We’re not going to Birren.”

Rey felt her stomach drop. Even with everything that Ben had done, The General couldn’t possibly be turning in her own son, could she? Nervously, Rey pleaded, “Please tell me that we’re not going back to a Resistance base.”

“We’re not going to a Resistance base, either.”

Rey and Ben exchanged relieved glances. The General then continued, “We’re taking you both to a safe house for now. We need to make sure that we aren’t being tracked, and Ben, you’re going to have some major decisions to make.”

 

***

 

The “safe house” turned out to be a non-descript cottage overlooking a lake on the planet Naboo. It did not escape Rey’s attention that this safe house was only a very short hyperspace flight away from D’Qar. The Resistance still maintained a very small base on D’Qar with a skeleton crew--having largely moved their operations elsewhere after their position had been discovered by the First Order several months ago. 

Leia toured the couple through the dwelling, which had two bedrooms, a sitting area, a ‘fresher, and a kitchen. A deck with a sitting area was located off of the kitchen and overlooked the lake. Poe waited back with the transport shuttle. Before heading to Arkanis to extract Ben and Rey, Leia had made sure that the kitchen was stocked with a week’s worth of food for the two of them. She’d also provided several fresh changes of casual clothing for them, having guessed at Ben’s adult size with input from Governor Oriclup, who had helped Leia coordinate the extraction from the Arkanis City hotel. Although Leia planned to leave Ben and Rey without any mode of transportation, she did issue them each a commlink and a datapad with a direct connection to higher ups at the Resistance. She also assured the couple that in the unlikely event of them being discovered by the First Order, she could have them evacuated very, very quickly.

“I think that’s about everything.” Leia hugged Rey then tentatively embraced her son. “If you do decide to join us, which would be my preference, only a few people within my inner circle are aware of...your former identity. I think that we could integrate you without a whole lot of fuss.”

“Thank you,” Ben said softly.

Leia released her son and took a step back and addressed the couple. “And, if after giving it some actual thought, you feel like you jumped into this marriage too quickly, I have connections that can get you an annulment quickly and quietly.”

Ben and Rey exchanged glances. Protectively, Rey grabbed Ben’s hand. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”

Ben looked at his wife and smiled, “No, I don’t think it will be necessary, either.”

Leia ignored the gestures. “We’ll determine our next steps for both of you over the next few days, and of course, we’ll be in communication with those commlinks. Barring anything unexpected, figure that you have one week here for us to make sure that you haven’t been tracked and for us to come up with a plan. You should expect for Poe to return with a transport ship in one week.”

“Got it, thank you,” Rey nodded.

The couple watched as The General walked back to the transport ship. Minutes later, the ship took off from its landing spot and disappeared into the atmosphere.

“So,” Rey turned to Ben.

“So…” Ben repeated. A mischievous smile appeared on his face. “Well, we’ve got a week here. Do you want to go test out the bedroom?”

“Yes, of course” Rey laughed. “But first, I want to check out the view of the lake.” She took his hand, led him through the house, and out to the deck in back. 

Rey leaned onto forearms on the deck rail. Ben then placed an arm around her. She looked up at him. “You don’t want to join the Resistance, do you?”

“No,” he replied with a wistful look on his face.

“Did you really mean what you said back in the shuttle? About not regretting this?”

Ben pulled her tightly to him. “I meant every word of it. If there’s anything that I’ve gotten right in the past few years, it’s this.”

Rey rested her head against his shoulder. “Do you know where you want to go? I had planned to go back to the Resistance, but...” Her voice trailed off; she didn’t want to finish the sentence with “but then I’d have to leave you.”

“I want the same thing that I said that I wanted back on Starkiller Base--when we fought in the forest.”

Rey pulled away from him, quickly a look of shock crossing her face. She stared at him. “You lied to me.”

Ben smirked, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to him. “I meant that I wanted to show you the ways of the Force. To be your teacher.” He kissed her head. “You have so much potential.”

She relaxed and allowed herself to be pulled back into his arms. “The Force, as a whole entity you mean? Luke thought that you wanted to turn me to the dark side.”

“To _use_ the Dark side? Along with the Light? Yes.”

Rey pulled back slightly to better see her husband’s face. “I guess that the most important thing in the near term is to convince your mother and uncle to let me go off to train with you to begin with. And that I’m doing so voluntarily.”

“Right. We’re going to need to come up with one hell of a sales pitch for that.”

“Good thing that we’ve got a week to come up with one.” She stood on her toes and planted a kiss on his lips.

Catching her off-guard, Ben bent down and scooped Rey up into his arms, with one arm under her knees and the other behind her back. Instinctively, Rey reached out and placed her arms around his neck. He walked several steps, taking them back into the cottage. “Exactly. And we will get working on that, but we have other matters to attend to, first.”

With a smile on her face hiding her nervousness about the future, Rey sighed as Ben carried his bride down the hallway to the bedroom of their temporary home. They had a new bed to test out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap!
> 
> Thank you, my wonderful readers, for all of your support while writing and posting this fic! You have been amazing!
> 
> For those who are interested, I have written several chapters into my next fic, where King Prana will reveal himself to be a major creep and a PIA. I plan to start posting that one once I have a bit more written. I *may* try to post a one-shot or two in the meantime.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think so far! Comments are encouragement!


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